Coil
by Rider Paladin
Summary: A dark power makes itself known within Robin, causing his teammates to fear him and resulting in his departure from the team. Moving to a new city to start over, he will discover new enemies and find friends and maybe love in the unlikeliest of places.
1. Dragon

"Coil"

Chapter 1: "Dragon"

Disclaimer: Teen Titans does not belong to me by any means. It is owned by DC Comics and Warner Brothers.

Spoilers: None in particular, but there will be references to events in the first four seasons, as well as drawing upon spoilers from Season 5.

Timeline: This story takes place after Season 5.

Author's note: Ladies and gentlemen, prepare for something radical from me. Something very, _very_ radical. Something only a select few before me have had the courage to do. If you can't guess what that is, I'll tell you.

A Robin/Blackfire pairing.

Yes, that's right, a Robin/Blackfire pairing. Doubtless, those of you who are rabid Robin/Starfire fans will take offense to this story simply because of who I paired Robin with. I give those people a double middle-finger salute . . . because this is my story . . . and I decide what happens and who gets paired up in it. I will not be intimidated into stopping this story no matter how loudly you protest because I am armed with a WMC – _weapon of mass chaos._ If you threaten me, be warned: my dorm room and my house are both wired to set off lethal booby traps should anyone attempt to break in seeking my life.

With this, I advise you to enjoy this story . . . or just get the hell out if you don't, because I don't wanna hear you whine about how Robin belongs with Starfire.

Now let the ride begin.

* * *

Robin glared at his opponent through the flexible white lenses of his mask.

"You're going down," he whispered.

His opponent didn't respond to that at all, as though silently taunting him.

Robin clenched his fist, which was wrapped in white exercise tape, and viciously struck his opponent, smirking in triumph as his opponent flew back. Not yet done with his opponent, Robin rushed forward and delivered a swift kick to the offending being with a foot that was also wrapped in white exercise tape.

"That was a good workout," he mumbled as he turned away from his opponent, only to smack the offender without even looking as soon as the being came back for a surprise attack. Then he heard a hiss as sand poured out from his opponent's body. "Damn. Looks like I need to get another punching bag."

Robin walked out of the gym and to the boys' locker room. He unwrapped the exercise tape around his left hand and arm, and then did the same for his right arm. Upon unwrapping his right arm, Robin gazed at the serpentine scar around it.

He'd had that scar for as long as he could remember. His parents had said it was a birthmark when he asked them about it. It was a strange thing, really, a slightly scaly scar coiled around his right arm like a serpent. It was rather easy to hide, as his glove took up most of his forearm and his sleeve covered much of the rest of his arm.

Taking his mind off his musings, Robin stripped off his workout pants and unwrapped the exercise tape around his feet. His boxers were the last to go and then he wrapped a towel around his lower half before going to the shower area. He hung the towel up on a rack and then turned the "hot" and "cold" knobs until the water was at a suitable temperature for him.

The masked boy – closer to man, actually, since he'd recently turned 18 – let out a brief sigh of contentment as the shower water massaged his aching muscles. He squeezed a glob of shampoo out of the shampoo bottle and then lathered it into his spiky black hair, which was now plastered to his face. After five minutes of lathering and rinsing, he picked up a bar of soap and worked up a good lather before rubbing it all over himself – his arms, his torso, his legs, etc.

Five minutes later, Robin was as clean as a whistle, dried off, and in a bathrobe. Robin walked out of the shower, picked up his discarded clothes, and went back to his room, dropping his clothes into the laundry chute for later cleaning on the way. As soon as he entered his room, he removed and hung up his robe in his closet, then opened his uniform closet and removed one of his uniforms from its hanger.

First, he put on the green pants, which were made out of a special armor-like fabric nicknamed "modern chain mail." Next, he donned the green-sleeved armored red tunic with the golden R on the left breast. Following that, he snapped on the golden utility belt around his waist, feeling the familiar weight of all his tools secreted within it. Then he put on his steel-toed black boots and his green modern chain mail gloves. The last item of clothing to come on was the polymerized titanium cape, ten times stronger than steel and yet light enough for him to move comfortably.

Robin removed his mask, which was still damp from the shower, briefly revealing teal eyes before replacing it with a new, drier mask. He picked up a bottle of hair gel from his dresser and opened it, then removed his gloves and poured a glob of gel onto one of his exposed hands, rubbing that gel into his hair and styling it into his traditional spikes. He cleaned off his hands with an antiseptic wipe and then put his gloves back on.

No sooner was his ritual complete than the alarm blared. Robin ran out of his room and into the main room of Titans Tower.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Trouble," Cyborg replied. "Apparently, someone's started a fire downtown."

"Where downtown?" Robin asked.

"Quentin Towers," Cyborg answered.

The command burst from Robin's lips without him even really thinking about it.

"Titans, go!"

* * *

The R-Cycle blazed through the streets with a helmeted Robin at the handles, Cyborg right beside him in the T-Car and Raven, Starfire, and Beast Boy keeping pace with him in the air.

They were the Teen Titans, five teenaged superheroes who banded together to not only protect innocent life but also to find their place in the world apart from the adult heroes that some of them had been affiliated with in the past.

Robin was their leader, a young man with no superhuman abilities whatsoever but who fought crime with a combination of martial arts mastery, an impressive array of gadgets, and wits sharpened by his time with Batman, the Dark Knight of Gotham City.

Beast Boy was the youngest of the team at fifteen years old, a small green shape-shifter with a knack for telling bad jokes on a near-constant basis, which led many people to not take him seriously. Those people were soon proven wrong in their estimation of him whenever they saw him in battle, though.

Cyborg was, as his name suggested, an amalgam of flesh, blood, and metal, the end result of a terrible accident. He still missed being a full flesh-and-blood human, but his trials with the psychic mastermind Brother Blood had helped him realize that he was still a man, metal parts or no metal parts. When he wasn't agonizing over his half-machine existence, he was a technological genius who had built a lot of the Titans' arsenal by himself.

Starfire was a princess from the planet of Tamaran. Like the rest of her people, she could channel emotions into power – joy for flight, righteous fury for energy blasts called starbolts, and boundless confidence for superhuman strength. As her people didn't believe in restraining their emotions like humans did, Starfire wore her feelings on her sleeve, whether they be joy, sorrow, or anger.

Raven was the most mysterious of the Titans, possessing the power to move objects through a living darkness that she could manipulate and empathy, the ability to sense and manipulate the emotions of others. She was the daughter of a mortal woman and a demon lord named Trigon and had spent her whole life fighting his influence. When Trigon had finally made his way to the human realm, all was thought to be lost until Raven realized her inner power and used it to annihilate him, or at least send him back to the hell that spawned him. Now she was free to express emotions, but she still had a hard time doing so because she was simply unused to it.

They were friends. They were family. They were the Teen Titans.

And right at that moment, they saw something that shook them to the core.

Quentin Towers, flames sticking out from the windows like malevolent tongues out of demonic mouths. The firefighters were doing their best to put out the fire, but the fire seemed impervious to their best efforts.

"What's going on here?" Robin asked the apparent leader.

"We don't know," the firefighter replied. "We've spent the better part of an hour trying to put this fire out, but it's like it doesn't want to go out."

"That's because it's not earthly fire," Raven stated.

"Then what kind of fire is it?" the firefighter asked.

"Not the kind that comes from this plane of existence," Raven replied.

"There are still people trapped inside!" another firefighter shouted. "We got some of our people in there trying to get them out, but with all that fire . . ."

The Titans moved to get inside the apartment complex and help the firefighters inside rescue the innocent people trapped inside, but Robin was hindered from following by a blast of flame that knocked him off his feet.

"Nice to see you again," a cold, malevolent voice drawled.

"Slade!" Robin spat. "Did you set this fire!"

"Yes," Slade admitted and as he spoke, Robin got the chilling feeling that Slade was smirking underneath his bisected mask.

Starfire looked back at Robin in concern. "I'll be fine, Starfire!" Robin shouted. He unsnapped his cape and threw it to her. "Use this to protect the people inside from the flames. I'll handle Slade."

Starfire hesitated for a moment and then flew into the burning apartment complex.

"Now it's just you and me," Slade purred. He charged at Robin and delivered a vicious kick to his solar plexus that knocked the breath out of the young hero and sent him flying back.

Robin swore under his breath. _He hit me harder than he ever has before, even when he was working for Trigon,_ he thought.

"Surprised?" Slade asked. "I'm not playing with you anymore . . . because your value to me has reached its end." He raised a fiery fist and launched the flames at Robin, slamming him into the wall of a nearby building.

Robin got up with an angry snarl and whipped out his escrima sticks, lunging at Slade and beating him viciously with each stick. Slade simply took the hits . . . only to rise up again and give Robin a vicious beating, his gauntleted fists and armored feet slamming into Robin's torso over and over.

_The armor can't take this forever,_ Robin thought. _It's made to stop bullets, not beatings from super-strong psychopaths._

Fire coiled around Slade's right arm and shaped itself into a sword. "Now it's time for you to go."

"You first," Robin retorted, spitting out blood and drawing two bird-shaped boomerangs out of his utility belt, then slamming them together so that they combined and extended into a sword. He charged at Slade and slashed at him with the sword, but Slade moved out of the way as though the swing had come at him in slow motion.

"What demon did you bargain with this time for those powers?" Robin asked angrily.

"I think I'll keep that my little secret," Slade replied coolly. "Besides, you have worse things to worry about right now."

Then he slashed Robin with his fiery sword, burning through the armored cloth and to the more vulnerable flesh beneath. Robin fought the urge to scream in pain, as the burn went deeper than just skin and muscle and bone . . . it went straight to his soul.

"It's amazing how much damage hellfire can do to a person," Slade mused. "Far more damage than a mere third-degree burn."

"Am I . . . supposed to be . . . impressed?" Robin spat in between gasps for breath.

"Most people would be screaming their lungs out in agony," Slade continued, "but not you. No . . . you'd never show pain in front of me. Too galling for you to let me know that I can hurt you." He chuckled sinisterly.

Robin pulled out four disks and threw them at Slade. As soon as the disks impacted against him, they released a Freon-like gas that hardened into solid ice around him. Unfortunately for him, the ice structure that imprisoned Slade began to shake, a sign that Slade was generating so much heat so as to cause hyperactive molecular activity in the ice. Eventually, it grew to be too much for the structure and it shattered into pieces, releasing Slade.

"That was refreshing," Slade remarked before shooting a bolt of unholy flame at Robin in the shape of a claw. Robin jumped up to escape the claw, but the claw just bent upward and grabbed Robin, yanking him back down and pinning him to the wall.

"What do you want?" Robin managed to inquire despite the pain Slade's hellfire claw was causing him.

"What do I want?" Slade echoed. "Why should I tell you that? It's not as though you'll be around long enough to stop me."

"The others . . ." Robin started to speak, but Slade cut him off.

"Are too weak," he finished. He placed his free hand on his chin as though he was deep in thought. "I wonder what'll happen when they see your charred corpse. How will they react when they see that sight?"

"I think they'd kick your sorry murdering ass," Robin spat out contemptuously.

"Still defiant as ever," Slade mused. "To be honest, Robin, I'll so miss our encounters."

By now, Robin was certain that his armored tunic was all but useless against Slade's hellish flames. _This is it,_ he thought. _I'm going to die. I'm really going to die . . . and I never told her how I felt. Hopefully, she forgives me for being such a stubborn jackass._

Just as Robin was making peace with himself in preparation for his approaching death, he felt his right arm burn. At first, he thought it was Slade's hellfire, but he soon realized that the burn was coming from within. He spared a glance at his right arm, only to see the serpentine birthmark glow black and burn through his glove and sleeve. The black glow ignited into black flame and Robin felt a new strength course through his veins. He drew back his flaming right arm and karate-chopped the hellfire claw pinning him to the wall, causing it to dissipate.

Robin fell to his feet, revealing that his red-and-green tunic had been burned away, exposing a lean yet muscular chest that was an unnatural pinkish-red from exposure to hellfire. The black fire coiled around his right arm, taking the shape of a dragon.

"What is this?" Slade asked, his left eye widening in surprise.

"Don't know," Robin admitted calmly, "but I know I can use it to take you down."

"Come on, then," Slade challenged.

Robin sprung at Slade with a fist wrapped in black flames as Slade sprung at Robin with a fist wrapped in hellfire. The two flaming fists collided with each other, the respective powers behind those fists clashing against each other. Both fighters strained with the effort of piercing each other's shield of flames to reach each other. Finally, there was an explosion of black and orange flames and both combatants were thrown back.

"That was something I hadn't anticipated," Slade murmured.

"Robin!" Starfire exclaimed. "Are you uninjured?"

"Not really," Robin replied, "but I'll live."

"Dude!" Beast Boy exclaimed. "How did you do that! You were wielding fire just like Slade!"

"You saw that?" Robin asked.

"Yeah," Cyborg replied. "We managed to save the people in that complex while you and Slade were busy with your little dance. We came to see if you were still alright, but . . ." He trailed off.

Slade let out a hissing growl. "I'll see you later." A fiery warp opened in the ground beneath him and he sank into it.

"No!" Robin yelled angrily. "Get back here, Slade!"

Unfortunately, Slade wasn't listening, as he'd already finished sinking into the fiery warp.

"Forget it," Raven stated. "Slade's gone. We already saved the people in the Towers. Right now, we need to get home and regroup."

* * *

As the Titans walked back to the vehicles that had brought them to Quentin Towers, Starfire couldn't help but look at Robin as it occurred to her that she had never before seen him shirtless. She gave him short, embarrassed glances, admiring the muscle definition of his exposed upper body.

Unbeknownst to her, Raven was doing the same thing, only she wasn't being nearly as obvious about it as Starfire.

"Star?" Raven uttered.

"Yes, Raven?" Starfire asked in a tone that suggested barely repressed panic, as she feared that Raven had caught her ogling their leader.

"He might be cold without his cape," Raven answered tersely.

"Oh!" Starfire exclaimed in realization and rushed over to Robin, draping his cape around his shoulders.

"Thanks, Star," Robin said.

"You are welcome," Starfire responded.

Upon arriving at Titans Tower, Beast Boy turned to Robin. "Where did you learn how to make fire?" he asked.

"I don't know," Robin replied. "I just know that it came from this." He held out his bare right arm, exposing the birthmark to the prying eyes of the other Titans.

Raven grasped his arm and examined the birthmark. "When did you get this mark?"

"I don't know," Robin replied. "I've had it for as long as I can remember."

"It's the mark of a darkness dragon," Raven stated, "a creature so ferocious that even Trigon feared him. The Azarathian monks used to tell me stories about how the dragon was sealed inside a human so that he couldn't cause any more harm, but I never knew who that human was."

"Until now," Cyborg added solemnly.

Robin took his arm back from Raven and hid it underneath his cape, which he had wrapped around his body. Without saying a word, he walked away from the other Titans and back to his room.

* * *

Slade hadn't shown his face at all in the week following his attack on Quentin Towers. In that week, Robin had busied himself watching footage of his fight with Slade. This day was no different.

_"What do I want?" Slade echoed. "Why should I tell you that? It's not as though you'll be around long enough to stop me."_

_What game are you playing at now, Slade?_ Robin wondered. _What demon have you sold your soul to this time?_

After one last viewing of the footage, Robin turned off the screen and went to the gym, changing out of his uniform and into a pair of sweatpants. He wrapped exercise tape around his left arm, having already used it to cover his right arm as he'd been doing ever since the birthmark's power had made itself known. Then he wrapped some more exercise tape around each foot.

Robin punched and kicked the gym bag brutally, the aforementioned gym bag shaking with each strike. As he punched and kicked the bag, he imagined that it was Slade he was fighting. The more he continued, the angrier he got until his fist ignited into black flame and he knocked the gym bag off its chain. The gym bag flew into the wall and crashed against the nearby weights.

"This isn't healthy, Robin," Raven spoke up, making her presence known.

"I have to stop him, Raven," Robin responded.

"You mean _we,_" Raven amended. "Haven't you always told me that I can't do everything on my own and that it's good to let other people help once in a while? Now I'm telling you: Don't go after Slade on your own. He is not someone to be trifled with and the only reason he was stopped before was that we worked together to do it."

"Are you afraid of me, Raven?" Robin asked.

It wasn't the question that astonished Raven so much as the tone in which he asked it, a tone that reminded Raven of a lost little boy.

"No," Raven replied. "I'm afraid for you. You have a control over your emotions that I don't see in most people. When it comes to Slade, though, you lose it. You get obsessed with him and in that obsession, you become a danger to yourself and everyone around you. It could be even worse now, since the power inside you is triggered by your darker emotions."

"I can't help it, Raven," Robin murmured. "He taunts me, night after night, whispering, laughing, telling me that I could be so much more than I am now but only if I submit to him."

"And you feel that taking him down is the only way to stop those nightmares," Raven stated.

Before Robin could formulate a response to that, the alarm blared.

"Titans, trouble!" Cyborg shouted over the intercom.

* * *

Ten android commandoes were in the Jump City Museum, having already overpowered the guards there, but not before a silent alarm had been triggered. The aforementioned silent alarm was hooked up to Titans Tower's computer mainframe, so the Titans had been alerted to the break-in and now they were in the museum.

"Museum's closed," Robin stated. "Come back in the morning . . . or don't come back at all. Titans, go!"

The five Titans charged at the androids, each taking on two.

Cyborg fired his Sonic Cannon at one android, but the android flipped out of the way before shooting a laser that pierced through his armor. The other android tagged him from behind with a taser in its palm, eliciting a scream of pain before his systems were forced to temporarily shut down and reboot.

Beast Boy lunged at an android as a bull, but that android grabbed him by the horns and kicked him into a wall, leaving a much disoriented changeling back in human form.

Starfire fought her two androids hand to hand, as she could not risk using her starbolts and accidentally damaging the exhibits. However, the two androids were programmed with expertise in virtually every martial art known to man, as she discovered when she attempted to kick an android, only for that android to grab her ankle and twist hard. Starfire managed to recover, swinging her other leg up to kick it. Unfortunately, the other android grabbed her other leg and now both androids had her legs.

Meanwhile, Raven was busily generating shields to block her two androids' attacks. Unfortunately, the androids were cutting through her shields with laser blades, so she created shields on top of shields to buy her some time until she could come up with a way to attack them.

As for Robin, he was fighting his two androids with an almost inhuman ferocity, chopping one android's head off with his flaming right hand and putting a hole in the other with his foot. Despite the hole in its chest, the surviving android kept fighting, swinging at Robin with its laser blade. Robin moved his head out of the way of the blade, finally catching it between his hands and wresting it from the android's hands. Then he swung the laser blade and decapitated the android just like he'd done to its partner.

Starfire shot both androids holding her with her starbolts, scrambling their circuits just long enough for her to break free and blast them both to pieces.

The first two androids were about to dismantle Cyborg when his systems finished rebooting. Then he punched one in its "face" and struck the other in its chest.

"Booya!" he exclaimed.

Finally, Raven had had enough hiding behind her shields. She withdrew the energy from them into herself and then released it as a serpentine blade that skewered the two androids.

Beast Boy lunged at one android as a lion and sliced through its chest with his claws, only to be shot in the side by that android's partner. The changeling roared in agony.

"Beast Boy!" Robin shouted, his anger upon seeing his friend harmed feeding the dragon inside him. Without thinking about it, the black fire coiled around his arm in the shape of a dragon and leaped at the two androids, incinerating them completely. He ran to Beast Boy – who had changed back into human form – and asked, "Are you ok?"

"Yeah . . ." Beast Boy replied slightly shakily, although it didn't escape Robin's notice that his green friend's shakiness had more to do with his proximity to someone that had just annihilated two killing machines with a mere gesture.

"Looks like we beat them," Cyborg remarked, "but what were they here for?"

"They're Slade's foot soldiers," Robin answered. "So that means they were here to steal something for him."

"Correction, Robin," Slade purred as he stepped out of the shadows. "They were here to distract you while I made my acquisition unmolested." He raised his right hand and opened it, revealing a black gem in his palm, "Now that I have this, the first stage of my plan is complete."

"What is that gem?" Robin asked angrily.

"I don't think I'll tell you now," Slade replied. "You'll find out when I'm good and ready. Until then, a parting gift." Demonic fire formed in his left hand and he shot it in a wide spray at the Titans. The dark draconic power activated inside Robin and formed a shield to protect him and the other Titans from Slade's attack. When the two fire powers canceled each other out, the Titans saw that Slade had vanished.

"He got away . . . again," Robin murmured.

* * *

Three more weeks passed and in those three weeks, Robin began noticing changes in the other Titans' behavior around him.

One day, he'd decided to take Raven's advice and unwind a bit. In the service of that end, he'd asked Starfire if she'd like to see a movie with him, the aforementioned movie being about a man who moves into an apartment and meets the ghost of the girl that used to live there. He'd explained that it wasn't a horror movie but actually a romantic comedy. She'd seemed to brighten up, then, but he couldn't help but notice that she was nervous about being near him. At the time, he'd attributed it to mere jitters.

During the film itself, Starfire hadn't held Robin's hand as she usually did whenever they saw a movie together. In fact, she had kept her hands to herself the whole time. This disconcerted Robin, as Starfire was a very touchy-feely person, especially where he was concerned.

Then there was the day he'd tried to play video games with Cyborg and Beast Boy.

"Hey, guys," he said as he approached the back of the couch the two were sitting on as they played their fighting game. "Mind if I play the winner?"

"Ahhh!" both boys had yelped. Then they turned to face Robin.

"Dude, you scared us!" Beast Boy yelled.

"Yeah, man, don't sneak up on us like that," Cyborg added in a slightly calmer voice.

"If you two weren't so distracted by your game, you would have noticed him approaching you," Raven stated.

"Sorry," Robin said. Then he repeated his question, "Mind if I play the winner?"

Cyborg and Beast Boy hesitated for ten seconds.

"Fine," Robin conceded. "I'll leave you two alone." He walked away. Raven glared at Cyborg and Beast Boy and walked after Robin.

"You feel it, don't you?" Raven deduced.

"That they're all afraid of me now?" Robin responded. "Yeah, hard not to notice. It's like they don't want me near them anymore."

"I understand," Raven said. "They were the same way with me when they found out about my father. As much as they tried to be understanding, they couldn't understand and it scared them, made them afraid of me."

"Starfire won't even touch me anymore," Robin said. "We went to a movie together two weeks ago and the whole time she never reached out to hold my hand once."

Raven squashed the stirrings of jealousy inside her and not for the first time she wondered if Starfire really was deserving of Robin. At first, Raven had thought that they should be together, simply because she felt Robin needed someone who could love him without needing to hold back. Now that she could feel emotions without running the risk of destroying everything around her, she was beginning to grow uncertain as to whether or not her best female friend truly deserved to be Robin.

"She just . . . needs time to get used to you," Raven surmised, trying to offer Robin some comfort.

"It's been almost four weeks since my new powers came and everyone's still looking at me like I'm gonna turn around and kill them," Robin griped. "It's like Red X all over again."

"There's a difference between your ruse as Red X and now," Raven stated. "With Red X, you brought it on yourself by not trusting us to help you stop Slade. This time, you're not at fault for what happened. You didn't ask to have a darkness dragon hiding inside you for all those years, just like I didn't ask to be born the daughter of an inter-dimensional demon. We all just need some time to adjust." She smiled, something that was becoming more common with her since Trigon's defeat, although it wasn't as though she smiled on a regular basis. "Come meditate with me."

* * *

The next morning, Cyborg's computer flickered to life, stating, _"Sleep cycle complete."_

"Time to start a new day," a newly awakened Cyborg said with a grin on his face. He left his room and went to the bathroom to brush his teeth. Upon coming out, he saw Starfire and Raven going down the hallway toward the dining room for breakfast.

The female Titans sat down at the dinner table while Cyborg went to work on his waffle maker.

"Mmmm, waffles!" Beast Boy exclaimed as he finally arrived. "Wait a second. Those aren't tofu waffles!"

"Of course not," Cyborg answered.

Just before the two boys could get into their daily argument over tofu and meat, Starfire spoke up. "One of our communicators is on the table."

"Beast Boy could have left his here after dinner by mistake," Raven suggested. "We all know his record for getting things lost."

"Hey!" Beast Boy protested. He reached inside his belt and pulled out his communicator. "My communicator is right here."

The four Titans gathered around the table as Raven picked up the communicator and pressed the blinking red button on it. Instantly, the screen flickered to life, bearing Robin's image.

_"Hi,"_ he spoke. _"By the time you get this message, I'll be long gone. I wish it didn't have to be this way, but that's how things turn out._

_"A leader can't lead a team that is afraid of him. If he has to rely on fear to get people to follow him, then he has failed as a leader and cannot be trusted to lead anymore. You all fear me now, because of the mark of the dragon I bear. I can't lead a team that's afraid of me, because you're more than just a team to me. You're my friends . . . and in many ways, my family, which is why it hurts so much that you're scared of me._

_"Cyborg, you're in charge of the team from this point forward. Lead them well. Take care of them._

_"Maybe I'll see you all again one day. Maybe not. Good-bye."_

The screen fizzled out, ending the message.

Starfire gasped in sorrow and turned away, holding her hand over her mouth as small sobs began to escape from it.

Raven was silent as her tears flowed down her face. _Robin,_ she thought. _I'm sorry I couldn't help you. After all the times you were there for me, I'm sorry I couldn't be there for you. I'm sorry I couldn't tell you how deeply I felt for you . . . and now, I might never see you again._

Cyborg and Beast Boy said nothing, but Beast Boy wrapped an arm around Raven, trying to give her as much comfort as he could.

* * *

Dressed in normal clothes, Robin rode the repainted R-Cycle through the city of Los Angeles. He would have cried . . . if he hadn't felt so numb that tears wouldn't escape his eyes.

_The City of Angels,_ he thought. _A good place to start over._

* * *

End Notes: All right, so Blackfire didn't show up in this. Don't worry, she'll show up in the next chapter. Whether she meets Robin in that chapter or the next . . . even I don't know, as I'm writing this story by ear.

I'd like to know what you think of this story, so please review, but judge the story based _only _on its merits and not based on your personal pairing biases.


	2. Start a War

"Coil"

Chapter 2: "Start a War"

Disclaimer: I will once again reiterate the sad fact that I do not own Teen Titans. DC Comics and Warner Brothers have that honor and so far, they haven't seriously screwed up yet.

Author's note: Is anybody unhappy that Robin's away from the Titans . . . and more importantly in some people's minds, away from Starfire? It should be stated for the record that in this story, the Titans are slightly older than they are in the show and when people grow older, they sometimes grow apart. What happened in the last chapter was a more extreme instance of such.

Have no fear, though; the Titans will still be appearing in this story. After all, it has yet to be revealed what Slade is up to with his rediscovered dark powers and the Titans have to deal with the fact that in one way or another, they drove Robin away.

Yes, people, Blackfire will appear in this chapter. Whether or not she'll meet Robin here . . . I leave that to my fertile imagination.

By the way, the Justice League (Flash and Dr. Fate specifically) will have cameos in this chapter.

Let's continue on from here.

* * *

"I feel really freaking stupid right now," Beast Boy spoke.

"As opposed to when?" Cyborg asked in a futile attempt to lighten the mood.

"We failed him," Starfire said. "He was suffering inside because of the power inside him and we shied away from him in fear instead of helping him."

"Fools," Raven intoned angrily. "All of us."

"Don't see why you're including yourself," Cyborg said. "You're the only one who'd actually go near him without flinching."

"I could have done more," Raven admitted. "I have a bond with him; I should have sensed that he was going to run away from us and stopped him."

"Could you have stopped him?" Beast Boy asked. "If he really wanted to leave, could you have stopped him?"

"What are you implying, Garfield?" Raven asked. "That Robin might have tried to hurt me with the darkness dragon?"

Beast Boy held his hands up in surrender. "No!" he replied. "I was just worried . . . I mean, you said that that dragon was such a badass that even your dad pissed his pants at the mention of him!"

"Darkness dragon or not, he is still Robin," Starfire said. "And I failed to see that. I should have been happy when Robin asked me to see a movie with him. Instead, I spent my time with him fearful that he would hurt me in some way when I know that he would never deliberately harm me."

"We have to face it," Cyborg said. "He's gone. He's gone and I don't know if he's ever coming back. From the sound of that message, it's not like he'll be back anytime soon."

* * *

Late at night in Los Angeles, a convoy of three armored vans was driving down an isolated street.

"Why do we gotta transport these diamonds at this time of night?" the driver of the lead van asked. "It's three o'clock in the frigging morning!"

"We're transporting these diamonds at 'three o'clock in the frigging morning' because nobody but the lunatics would be out at this hour," the guard in the passenger seat replied. "And since this happens to be our job, I advise you to either stop complaining or shut the hell up."

The driver was about to reply when a pinkish-purple beam of light punched through the reinforced glass of the windshield and blew a hole in his head. The guard next to him had enough time to yell, "What the hell!" before attempting to stop the van from crashing into a parked car.

Too little, too late.

"What happened to Pugsley and Hirsch?" the driver of the middle van asked.

"I don't know," the guard next to him replied. Then they both looked out the windshield and saw a feminine shadow with glowing purple eyes. That was the last thing either of them ever saw as death streamed from those glowing eyes.

The middle van spun out of control now that its driver was no longer among the living and crashed into the first van.

"Who the hell is doing this?" the driver of the last van asked.

"I don't know," the guard next to him replied. "Stay here. I'm going to see what's going on." With that said, he opened the passenger-side door and climbed out of the van.

"Whoever you are, show yourself," the guard ordered.

The mysterious shadow with death-dealing eyes turned those malevolent glowing orbs upon the guard and he found his gun melted into slag, forcing him to drop it for fear of being burned, and then he found himself dead with a smoking hole in his chest.

The driver slammed the accelerator and drove as far away as he could from the scene. He wasn't going to let what happened to the other five men on this convoy happen to him. Unfortunately, the shadow with death-dealing eyes moved faster than the maximum 120 mph he could accelerate the van to and grabbed onto the handle of the passenger-side door, then smashed the window open and slid inside.

"Who are you?" the driver queried in a panicked tone.

"A woman who's about to get very, very lucky," the shadow answered in a young woman's voice before reaching out and snapping the driver's neck. Then she tossed him out through the window and slid into the driver's seat, stopping the van before it could crash like the first two. She got out of the van and walked to the back, tearing the doors open with deceptively delicate fingers and thus revealing cases full of diamonds. Wasting no time, she opened the cases and removed a fistful of diamonds from one of them, placing them in a pouch on her belt.

_This should fetch me a pretty penny,_ she thought. _Gotta__ thank that son of a bitch for running his mouth while he thought I was asleep._

Having gotten what she came for, the shadow flew away into the night.

* * *

In the morning, a civvies-wearing Robin sat in a cybercafé reading an online newspaper. The article he was reading detailed the robbery of a diamond shipment making its way to entrepreneur Jackson Steele. According to what the police had found, the drivers of all three vans and their accompanying guards had been brutally murdered and that the third van, the one actually carrying the diamonds, had been ripped open by what seemed to be bare hands. There weren't that many details, perhaps to protect Steele, perhaps simply not to terrify the public due to the apparent gruesomeness of the murders. At any rate, Robin could guess what had happened.

_A super-strong robber who can blast holes in people and reinforced glass,_ Robin thought. _I suppose I'll have to put a stop to whoever it is._

He shut down his laptop, closed it, and placed it in his backpack, then slung it over his shoulders and walked out of the cybercafé. He got on his black R-Cycle, which had had the R-emblem disguised by a black cover, and revved it up before driving away from the cybercafé and back to the apartment complex where he lived. Once there, he parked his motorcycle in the parking lot and placed his helmet in the helmet compartment. Then he pulled his keys out of the ignition and walked into the complex, taking the elevator all the way up to the top floor and entering his apartment.

The apartment looked just like that of any other young man . . . a mess. Not a complete mess, but there were definite signs of disorganization if one looked at the obvious.

Robin had bought the apartment with the money from the trust fund Batman had set up for him upon reaching his eighteenth birthday under the name Alvin Draper, which was one of many false identities the Dark Knight had set up for him in case his civilian identity was compromised. At the time Robin had attributed that to his mentor's sheer paranoia, but thinking on it now he was actually rather grateful to him. After all, it wasn't as though nobody would ask questions if the ward of Bruce Wayne turned up in Los Angeles.

Robin walked into his room and looked at a poster depicting a dragon of fire battling a dragon of darkness. An ironic smile formed on his face as he remembered how much the conflict between the two dragons resembled the conflict between him and Slade. Regaining his focus, he placed his hand on the wall and the section of wall holding the poster receded to reveal a doorway. He stepped inside the doorway, entering what an outsider would deem the most advanced crime lab in the world. Of course, that would be predicated on that outsider having never seen the Batcave.

Robin sat down in front of the giant computer in the center of the crime lab and typed on the keyboard. Several keystrokes later, the image of the black gem Slade had acquired all those weeks ago appeared on the computer screen. A few keystrokes later, the computer was doing a search through all computer databases in the world for a match.

A few minutes later, Robin saw a message on the screen: _"Match found."_

"The Gem of Black Death," Robin murmured. Reading out loud, "'The Gem of Black Death is one of a set of four gems: the Gem of Black Death, the Gem of White Famine, the Gem of Red War, and the Gem of Blue Pestilence. When all four gems are united and brought to the Hand of Amon, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse will be released and this world will come to its end.'"

There was more, but it wasn't as important to Robin. What was important was that he knew the reason for Slade's theft of the black gem back in the museum at Jump City. However, he didn't know where to find the gems. He was certain Slade knew how and where to find them, so that meant he would have to track down Slade to find out how he located the gems.

* * *

Back at Titans Tower, Cyborg had just discovered the same thing as Robin.

"What do we do?" Beast Boy asked. "Slade can locate those gems and we can't!"

"Why would Slade wish to destroy this world?" Starfire asked. "He helped us save it when Trigon conquered it."

"That was just him getting even with Trigon for screwing him over," Raven replied cynically.

"I can't help but feel that there's more to what Slade's planning besides the destruction of the world," Cyborg said. "Since when has he ever been so obvious about anything he's planned?"

"Never," Raven answered. "That's how he's able to trip us up. He makes cryptic threats and statements and sets up ruses to distract us while he continues on with his real plans without interference."

"How do we find the Apocalyptic Gems before Slade does?" Starfire asked.

"We contact the Justice League's top sorcerer," Cyborg replied.

"You mean Dr. Fate?" Beast Boy deduced. "Aw, man! Do we have to?"

"What do you have against Fate?" Raven asked.

"He's creepy!" Beast Boy replied, as though that were a sufficient reason.

"He's not creepy," Raven contradicted. "You simply don't like being around people smarter than you are."

Cyborg resisted the urge to add, "And that would mean pretty much everyone else on the planet."

"Regardless of his 'creepiness,' Dr. Fate is an extremely experienced magic user," Starfire stated. "We need all the help we can receive if we are to locate those gems before Slade does."

"All right," Cyborg said. He went back to the Titans supercomputer and opened a channel to the Justice League's Watchtower. The face that emerged on the screen was that of the Flash. "Hey, Flash."

"Hey, Cyborg," Flash greeted with a grin. "What brings you here?"

"We need to get in touch with Dr. Fate," Raven replied.

"Sure thing, Rae," Flash answered with what could have passed for a wink, but no one could tell underneath the Scarlet Speedster's mask.

"I think he likes you," Beast Boy whispered to Raven.

"Please," Raven whispered back. "He likes anything that's pretty and has curves."

Soon enough, Dr. Fate had taken Flash's place at the screen.

"I see you need my help," he stated calmly.

"Not yet," Cyborg amended. "But we do need you to tell us something. First, have you ever heard of the Apocalyptic Gems?"

"The Gem of Black Death, the Gem of White Famine, the Gem of Red War, and the Gem of Blue Pestilence. Yes, I have," Fate answered.

"Then you might be able to answer the next question," Cyborg spoke. "How do you find those gems?"

"Why would you want to find them?" Dr. Fate asked.

"Because Slade's after them, that's why!" Beast Boy shouted.

"Slade?" Dr. Fate repeated. "The industrial saboteur?"

"Yeah," Beast Boy confirmed irritably.

Dr. Fate did not speak for a few minutes. It seemed to the Titans as though he was in deep thought, but it wasn't as though they could tell through the golden helm that concealed his face.

"There is a way of locating the gems," Dr. Fate finally spoke. He held up a steel bracelet with eight gems embedded inside it and a clear crystal in the center. "The gems and crystal in this bracelet are attuned to the energy of the Apocalyptic Gems and will thus enable you to track them. However, you will have to come up to the Watchtower to receive it."

"Sure thing," Cyborg answered. _Man, I can't wait to check out the Watchtower! Have they updated the tech over there yet?_

Within mere moments, the four Titans were transported to the Watchtower.

"Hey, guys," Flash greeted with a grin aimed at Raven's direction. The grin faded when he noticed Robin wasn't there. "Where's Robin?"

"He left," Starfire replied sadly.

"Why?" Flash asked.

"It's not something we'd like to talk about," Cyborg answered.

At that moment, Dr. Fate strode toward them with the locator bracelet in hand. "Here you go," he said as he placed the bracelet in Raven's hand, eliciting a blush from the young half-demon. "Be careful. I only have so many."

"Thanks," Raven uttered before the Titans were transported back to their Tower.

"Aw, man," Cyborg moaned. "I never got to check out their mainframe!"

"It's not like we were there for that reason, Victor," Raven stated as she attached the locator bracelet to her wrist. "And you can visit their Watchtower again if you feel like it."

"They only let us up there for emergencies," Cyborg sighed.

"Raven, are you attracted to Dr. Fate?" Starfire asked.

"No," Raven replied.

"But you were blushing when his hand made contact with yours while he was giving you the locator bracelet," Starfire claimed.

"You're aware the guy's married, right?" Beast Boy chimed in.

"I am not attracted to Dr. Fate," Raven insisted. "You're all just talking nonsense."

* * *

That night in Los Angeles, a sandy-haired man with a shady expression was pacing up and down a particular section of sidewalk.

"Where is he?" he muttered. "Said to come to this corner and he ain't even here, the miserable S.O.B."

Just then, he heard a voice whisper, "Psst! Over here, you dumb goombah."

The shady man entered the alley from which he had heard the voice. In the meager light, he could see a man who was better dressed than he was but slightly shadier than he looked.

"Jesus Christ, man!" the shady man exclaimed.

"Keep your freaking voice down," the shadier man whispered harshly. "There ain't a whole lotta people on this corner, but you can't be too careful; you never know who might be watching."

"This ain't Gotham City, this ain't Metropolis, this ain't Star City, this ain't Keystone City, this ain't anywhere those goddamn masked freaks like to hang out and bust up people like us," the shady man retorted.

The shadier man resisted the urge to tell the shady man that Superman didn't wear a mask, instead choosing to ask, "You got the money?"

"You got the goods?" the shady man asked.

"Yeah," the shadier man replied. "You got the money?"

"Sure," the shady man answered, pulling out a thick wad of hundred-dollar bills and giving it to the shadier man as he gave him the goods, which turned out to be at least two kilos full of cocaine.

"You two . . . just made a big mistake," a cold, harsh voice whispered from within the shadows.

"Who's there?" the shady man asked.

"And you said 'this ain't anywhere those goddamn masked freaks like to hang out,'" the shadier man half-spat, half-sneered.

"Show yourself, you goddamn freak!" the shady man yelled, pulling out a gun.

"You don't even know where I am," the voice whispered. "What makes you think you won't shoot your friend by mistake instead?"

"Cool it!" the shadier man snarled. "He's just trying to freak you out! That's how those masked freaks like to operate!"

"Well, he's gonna be a dead masked freak!" the shady man yelled and fired three shots into the darkness. However, he didn't hear the thump of a body falling onto the asphalt.

"Big mistake," the voice growled and then something came at the shady man from the shadows, striking quickly and brutally. By the time it was over, the shady man had a bloody nose and a quickly swelling lip. "Now . . . do you mind telling me who you were going to sell that cocaine to?"

"Screw you," the shady man spat.

"Wrong answer," the voice hissed and again, the thing from the shadows thrashed him, ending by pinning the shady man to the wall with a forearm at his throat and a pair of hellish blank white eyes staring at him. The shadier man tried to get away, but the shadow with the hellish eyes turned in his direction and a moment later he was tightly wrapped in black cord. "You stay."

"What the freak do you want?" the shadier man asked.

"Who were you going to sell that cocaine to?" the shadow asked in a hissing growl.

"Ahh . . . ahh . . . th-th-the Hell's Dragons," the shady man replied in a terrified voice. "They're a gang, hang out downtown."

"And what do the Hell's Dragons do with the cocaine?" the shadow asked.

"They sell it to people on the street," the shady man replied.

"What do they do with the profits?" the shadow inquired.

"They give me forty percent of the profits and spend the rest on platinum jewelry, rims for their cars, and other crap like that," the shady man answered.

"What do you do with that forty percent?" the shadow questioned.

"I give it to my employer!" the shady man yelled. "He has an office in this strip club called Torrid Nights, but I don't see him. This guy at the door takes the money to him for me!"

"Thank you," the shadow whispered and the shady man was certain that the shadow was smiling cruelly. "You get to keep all your limbs in one piece."

Then the shady man found himself tied up next to the shadier man and the shadow was gone.

* * *

Robin stood on the rooftop of the building facing Torrid Nights, dressed in a new costume. He wore what looked like a short-sleeved black wetsuit with a burnt silver robin emblem on the chest and a scarlet stripe extending from it down to the insides of his legs. Black ribbed pads adorned his sleeves, thighs, and knees while his feet were encased in buckled black steel-toed boots and short black gloves with stainless steel pads on the backs covered his hands. He wore a burnt silver utility belt with a robin buckle around his waist and a black cape around his shoulders. A bird-styled black domino mask concealing his eyes completed the ensemble.

_I'm going straight to the top of the food chain,_ he thought as he leaped toward Torrid Nights, landing in front of the doorman and knocking him unconscious before he had a chance to defend himself. Then he slinked to the back door and entered through it, climbing up to the rafters to keep out of view of the dancers and the horny males watching them. Thankfully, the rafters were not very well lighted, so it was relatively easy for him.

* * *

Inside the second-floor office of Torrid Nights, a short and chubby man sat at his large mahogany desk, counting his money . . . and there was plenty of money to count.

"Good evening," Robin's voice rasped out.

The man yelped in shock. "Who's there?"

"Just someone who's taken an interest in your . . . extralegal business practices," Robin answered from his hiding place.

"What extralegal business practices?" the man asked.

"The kind that involves using street gangs to sell drugs for you," Robin replied. "Of course, since you have someone to act on your behalf with guys like the Hell's Dragons, your hands are kept relatively clean. And of course, since the money is exchanged in cash only, there's no actual record of your dirty dealings, so even better for you."

"So what?" the man retorted. "You basically said it yourself that there's no existing evidence of what I do. And even if you were to take on the Hell's Dragons and beat confessions out of each and every one of them, the public thinks of me as a respectable businessman. No way would the police believe the word of a bunch of thugs over mine."

"Of course not," Robin agreed. "You've got enough of the force in your pocket so that nothing's actually done about what you do. Sure, the little guys – the street thugs who sell for you – end up in jail, but the police don't bother investigating any further after that."

"So what are you going to do about it?" the man asked.

"As of now, you are on notice," Robin replied grimly. "This city will no longer be a safe place for scum like you. Not as long as I'm here."

The young vigilante could practically smell and taste the fear that emanated from the man. Idly, he thought to himself that the gratification he felt from that fear was probably what Batman felt when he put the screws to some thug or fat cat crime lord.

He didn't have time to meditate on this or terrify the crooked businessman further, as he heard a commotion down in the club. Robin departed from the crooked businessman's office and into the club, which now looked like a scene from Dante's _Inferno._ The patrons and dancers were running around in terror, scrambling over each other to find a way out of the inferno Torrid Nights had become.

"It's going to be a hot night," a familiar and much hated cool voice purred.

"Slade!" Robin spat. "What are you doing here?"

"Robin. What a pleasant surprise," Slade remarked. "I see you've finally started listening to me and left your foolish friends behind." The shift in his eye let Robin know that he'd raised an eyebrow. "I rather like the new costume."

"You didn't answer my question," Robin snarled, "but I already know why you're here."

"Do you?" Slade asked. "Humor me and tell me my reason for being here in this place."

"You found out that there was an Apocalyptic Gem here and you came to get it so that you'd be one step closer to ending the world," Robin answered.

"How very astute of you," Slade mused. "But you still haven't figured out one thing."

"And what would that be?" Robin asked.

"What I really intend to do with those four gems," Slade replied.

"I don't need to know what you intend to do with those gems," Robin snarled, drawing his Bo staff from his belt and extending it to its full length with a press of a button. He also transferred a portion of the darkness dragon's power to the staff, causing it to ignite in black flames.

Slade drew and extended his own Bo staff, wrapping demon fire around it.

The two warriors charged at each other, their fiery staffs clashing against each other. Slade swung his staff at Robin, but the vigilante moved out of the way with almost ridiculous speed and swung his staff low to knock Slade's feet out from under him. Unfortunately for him, Slade stepped on his staff to prevent Robin from using it on him and then kicked him right into the flames. Robin wrapped himself in his cape, relying on the polymerized titanium to protect him from the flames.

_Who the hell am I kidding?_ Robin thought. _This is hellfire. Nothing made on this planet protects you from that._

Fortunately, he had something not made in this plane of existence that protected him from the flames: the power of the darkness dragon. As a result, Robin emerged from the hellfire unscathed.

"Ah, so this is the power of a darkness dragon," Slade uttered. "Impressive."

A black fireball formed in Robin's hand and he tossed it into the air, then jumped up and kicked it straight at Slade like a soccer ball. Slade managed to dodge the fireball, but it splintered into about thirty smaller black fireballs that all targeted Slade. The masked mastermind dodged as many as he could, but he couldn't evade all of them and he ended up battered by the remaining five black fireballs.

When the smoke cleared, Slade was looking rather well. Not entirely unscathed, as the fireballs had blown small holes in his Kevlar-and-armor suit, revealing singed flesh.

_At least he's not a walking skeleton this time,_ Robin thought.

"You have a better grasp of your dark powers than I would expect for one so new to the game," Slade remarked.

_You should kill him,_ a voice that Robin didn't recognize as his own rasped in his thoughts. _Kill him for all the suffering he's caused you and your friends._

_Who's saying that?_ Robin wondered.

"Eyes on me, Robin," Slade purred before blasting him with hellfire. "I'd like to stay and chat, but the second Apocalyptic Gem waits." He cut a large hole in the ceiling with his hellfire and jumped up through it, landing right in the crooked businessman's office.

"Who the hell are you?" he asked.

"Someone who is very interested in what you have," Slade replied. "A gem. Colored white, red, or blue. I know you have it in here. Would you prefer I kill you and find it myself?"

"You're not getting your hands on that gem!" Robin snarled as he landed in the crooked businessman's office.

"And what makes you think I won't?" Slade asked arrogantly.

With a scream of rage, Robin jumped into the air and kicked Slade. However, Slade caught his ankle and threw him at a wall, but Robin flipped in midair and landed on the wall, using it as a springboard to charge at Slade again. This time, Slade caught Robin by the wrist and threw him into another wall.

"I'm not sticking around for this crap," the crooked businessman mumbled and tried to make a run for it.

"I don't think so," Slade muttered and rushed to intercept him with supernatural speed. He grabbed the corrupt businessman by his thick wrist and channeled hellfire into him, torturing the man's very soul. "Hellfire doesn't do very much spiritual damage to the innocent, but you are by no means innocent, now are you?"

The corrupt businessman screamed in agony.

"Tell me where the gem is, or I turn up the heat until you're nothing but ashes," Slade threatened.

"It's on top of my cane!" the corrupt businessman yelled.

"Thank you," Slade replied and threw him down the hole into the flames. Then he turned to Robin. "You have two choices: Stop me from getting that gem or save his miserable life. You can't do both, and I know it will torture your heroic soul if you allow even a man as despicable as him to die so that you can stop me. So what will it be?"

_Stop him,_ the voice hissed. _Who cares what happens to that piece of garbage down there?_

Ignoring the voice this time, Robin jumped down into the burning club and wrapped his cape around the crooked businessman, ushering him out of the club.

"Thanks," the man managed to gasp out.

Robin took back his cape roughly and wrapped it around his shoulders once again. "I didn't do it for your sake," he spat out coldly before firing a hook out of a grapnel gun and swinging away.

_He has two Apocalyptic Gems and I'm still no closer to figuring out how to keep him from the remaining gems,_ Robin thought. _It's time I called in some help._

* * *

End Notes: All right, so Blackfire and Robin didn't meet in this chapter, but you can guess who robbed that three-van convoy, can't you? Don't worry; they are definitely meeting up in the third chapter.

Who is this help Robin intends to call in? Knowing what he's dealing with, he's going to need the help of someone experienced in sorcery, but who exactly is he going to? You'll find out in the next chapter.

Without giving too much away, I can safely say that Robin won't forget all about that drug ring that crooked businessman set up. He's still gonna be itching to take down that scumbag, but how exactly does he intend to do it and how will he balance it with stopping Slade from unleashing the Horsemen of the Apocalypse? Let's just hope our now-solo Boy Wonder doesn't stretch himself too thin.

The guidelines for reviewing that I set up in the first chapter still apply . . . but I dare someone to violate them. Come on. I can take you.


	3. Street Justice

"Coil"

Chapter 3: "Street Justice"

Disclaimer: Teen Titans does not belong to me; it belongs to DC Comics and Warner Brothers. Hellblazer is also owned by DC Comics through its Vertigo line; I'm simply borrowing John Constantine for this one guest appearance.

Author's note: So far, Robin's done a rather good job of setting himself up in Los Angeles. However, his past is always chasing him down . . . and there are people besides the Titans who aren't happy that Robin is no longer with them.

Flash's flirtation with Raven in the last chapter was inspired by his love for her in the comics when they were both Titans and he was Kid Flash. As it turned out, he only loved her because Raven psychically manipulated him into doing so in order to gain his assistance. As for Raven's presumed attraction to Dr. Fate, they're both mystical characters and Fate, being a grown man, has a maturity that Raven doesn't often see in her male teammates.

While I cannot officially respond to reviews, I can say this. If anyone thinks the Titans and Blackfire are acting out of character, what is happening in this story would never happen in the show. Second, Robin (when in his adult identity as Nightwing) left the Titans twice in the comics, disbanding the team entirely the second time, and both times it was due to something that affected him personally. Third, Blackfire is much worse a person than she is depicted in the show and even in the show she's pretty nasty. After all, we're talking about someone who tried to arrange for her own sister to go to jail for her crimes and then tried to force her to marry some disgusting blob just to get back at her. In addition, she conquered the planet of their birth and planetary conquest is never a peaceful thing unless you're dealing with a whole planet of cowards and the Tamaraneans never struck me as cowards in both their comic and animated interpretations. So no one can safely say that Blackfire wouldn't kill people to get her way or get them out of her way.

Finally, this is the promised chapter, the chapter in which Robin and Blackfire meet. Rejoice.

* * *

Cyborg, Beast Boy, and Starfire followed Raven as she followed the locator bracelet, which was currently leading her in the direction of Los Angeles.

"Are you sure this is the right way, Raven?" Starfire asked.

"Yeah, it looks like we're headed for L.A.," Cyborg added.

"Yes, I'm sure," Raven replied. "And one more thing: The gem is moving."

"Moving?" Beast Boy repeated.

"Yes," Raven confirmed. "Which means that Slade's gotten his hands on it and he's on the move."

"We got something else to worry about," Cyborg said, looking at his dashboard screen. "Red X is pulling a robbery in the tech sector!"

"We'll have to split up," Raven decided. "Two of us to try to stop Slade and two of us to try to stop Red X."

"Right on," Cyborg agreed. "Beast Boy, you and I are going after X. Star, Raven, you two get down to L.A. and stop Slade."

Raven wrapped herself and Starfire in her soul-self and transported the two of them to Los Angeles while Cyborg and Beast Boy drove or flew to the tech sector.

* * *

In Los Angeles, Raven and Starfire found themselves at the scene of a burning strip club.

"Slade's handiwork, no doubt," Raven stated.

"We must stop that madman, Raven," Starfire uttered urgently. "He cannot be allowed to cause more destruction to get his hands on those gems."

"We will, Star," Raven assured her red-haired friend. She looked at her bracelet, the gems embedded in it pointing left. She flew in that direction with Starfire flying right behind her. The two of them soon saw Slade flying rapidly ahead of them, wreathed in an aura of flames.

"Slade! Cease and desist now!" Starfire shouted.

Slade turned to face the two girls. "Ah, so you also have a locator crystal," he remarked with a complete and utter lack of surprise in his tone.

"What does it matter?" Raven asked. "You're not going to keep that Apocalyptic Gem very long."

"That's what your former leader told me when I encountered him right here in this city," Slade commented.

"Robin?" Starfire asked. "You have seen him! Where is he? Have you harmed him, you sick monster?"

"Relax, Starfire," Slade admonished in a patronizing tone. "He hasn't suffered any lasting damage. The darkness dragon whose mark he bears protects him . . . for the time being. I wonder why you still show so much concern for his well-being after he abandoned you, though."

"Robin did not abandon us, you _dra'bsat_" Starfire screamed as she shot a starbolt of massive proportions at Slade. However, the starbolt split in half once it touched Slade's aura and both halves flew past him on either side, leaving him completely unharmed.

"Always so emotional," Slade mused.

"You're going to surrender that gem to us," Raven declared.

"You'll have to pry it from my cold dead fingers first," Slade retorted, "and you heroes don't kill, do you?"

"We might make an exception in your case," Raven snarled as she shaped her power into daggers and threw them at Slade, who dodged them all so quickly that she almost didn't see him move at all. What she did register was that the shadow daggers hadn't hit him at all.

"You can destroy the whole world, but you can't kill one man," Slade sneered. "Pathetic. I expected more from a scion of the Eighth Devil."

"You shut up about him," Raven snarled and this time her power lashed out as a serpentine blade that slashed Slade's chest.

"Better," Slade remarked as the wound Raven had given him healed. "But now it's my turn." He summoned fire in each hand and shot it at Raven and Starfire, who both protected themselves with shields. Despite this, they felt the unholy flames pushing against them, trying to incinerate them. The shields still held up against Slade's hellfire, enough for the people behind them to attempt an offense.

"Azarath . . . Metrion . . . _Zinthos_" Raven shouted, firing a blast of living darkness at the same time Starfire fired her optic blast at Slade. Starfire's optic blast wrapped around Raven's darkness blast and the combined energies slammed into Slade, this time piercing his aura and dealing some real harm to the psychopathic mastermind.

Slade began to plummet to the ground and as he did, Raven and Starfire pursued him, dealing him ferocious punches and kicks. The mastermind managed to stop his descent and began fighting back, planting his fist in Starfire's exposed stomach and his foot in Raven's jaw, sending them both flying back. The two girls managed to stop themselves in midair and redoubled their assault on him, resulting in a flurry of fists, feet, starbolts, darkness blasts, and fireballs.

After about thirty minutes of this, Slade landed near a building and planted his gauntleted hand on the wall, sending a fluid stream of hellfire through the structure and blowing a giant hole in it.

"What's more important to you?" he asked. "Getting the Apocalyptic Gem from me or saving the innocent people inside this building?"

"Now that the infrastructure has been compromised, the building is certain to collapse on itself," Starfire uttered frantically.

"I'll hold it up with my powers," Raven answered. "You get the people out."

"Good girl," Slade murmured before sinking into another fiery warp and disappearing completely.

Raven wrapped the building in her dark powers and held it up while Starfire went inside.

"Do not worry," she stated. "You will all be safe if you exit through this door in a calm manner and do not panic."

Fortunately for her and themselves, the people inside actually listened and walked out of the collapsing building as calmly as they could.

"He got away again," Raven cursed.

"Yes, but it was more important that we saved those people," Starfire countered.

"If we don't stop Slade from getting all four Apocalyptic Gems, there won't be anyone to save," Raven insisted. "Let's go see how the boys are doing." She pulled out her communicator and turned it on. "Cyborg, are you there?"

* * *

"We're – a little busy, Raven!" Cyborg responded in a strained voice as Red X slashed at him with his spinning X-blades.

"Where the hell is Robin?" the skull-masked thief asked.

"He left!" Beast Boy snarled as he turned into a bull and charged at Red X, who simply shot an X at him that turned into a web-like substance as soon as it touched him and bound him. "Aw, crap, not again!"

Cyborg activated his dual Sonic Cannons and fired both at Red X, who jumped over the twin blasts of sonic energy and viciously kicked the half-metal teen hard enough to knock him back a few feet. Oh, well, that was what happened when the person kicking him wore a super-powered combat suit. Red X slammed his hand onto the floor and sent a wave of scarlet electricity through it, shocking both Cyborg and Beast Boy into borderline unconsciousness.

"This is frigging pathetic," X growled and for the first time since the Titans had known him, he sounded angry.

Just then, Raven and Starfire emerged through a shadow warp.

"Hey there," X greeted with a flirtatious smirk underneath the mask. "You know where Robin is?"

"We don't and we wouldn't tell you even if we did," Raven snapped.

"Fine," Red X snarled and fired a blast of scarlet energy at the two girls. Raven blocked it with a shield and Starfire fired a starbolt at Red X, smashing him into a wall. "Damn, I didn't know you liked it rough."

Raven growled in irritation as she levitated a pair of boxes and threw them at the black-clad thief, who simply disappeared from existence. When he reemerged into existence, it was behind Raven and Starfire. He grasped them both by the shoulders and sent a current of scarlet electricity through them, eliciting cries of pain from them before they collapsed on the floor.

Red X let out a hissing growl, a sound made more terrifying by the voice synthesizer in his mask. "I'm going to find Robin."

* * *

When the Titans came to, Red X was already gone.

"Ok, what the hell was up with that guy?" Beast Boy asked.

"Yeah, usually he's all cocky and stuff, but this time he was really pissed off," Cyborg agreed.

"It appears that like us he misses Robin," Starfire surmised.

"Misses Robin?" Raven repeated. "Why would he miss Robin, except for being able to kick his ass and bring down his ego a few notches on a regular basis?"

"Maybe it's just that," Cyborg answered. "I don't even wanna think about what other reasons X might have for missing Robin."

"Maybe the Red X has some form of affection for Robin?" Starfire guessed.

"That was the 'other reasons' I didn't wanna think about, Star," Cyborg stated.

"But X flirts with Starfire so much that it'd be impossible for him not to be straight!" Beast Boy protested.

"Maybe he's bi," Cyborg responded.

"Ok, when we start debating our enemies' sexuality, it's time we found something more interesting to do with our time," Raven remarked.

"Yeah, this is getting pretty disturbing anyway," Beast Boy added.

"We still have two more Apocalyptic Gems to find," Cyborg said, "so we better not waste our time here."

With that said, the Titans left the computer complex in which they had just fought Red X.

* * *

The next day, just after it had gone completely dark, Robin was riding down the streets of Los Angeles on his R-Cycle. He'd gone to Zatanna's show earlier and waited backstage for her. When she went backstage, she'd been rather surprised to see him, especially in his new costume.

"Robin!" she had exclaimed. "What brings you here?"

"Apocalyptic Gems," Robin had answered. "Do you have any idea how to find them?"

"They were created to bring forth the destruction of all living things," Zatanna had responded. "Why would you want to seek those things?"

"Because a madman named Slade is after them," Robin had replied. "He already has two gems and I know he knows how to locate them. I was just hoping you might know how to do the same."

"There is a crystal attuned to their energy," Zatanna had spoken. "If you have that crystal, you can track the gems."

"Do you have it?" Robin had asked.

"No," Zatanna had admitted. "But I know someone who does. He's in town tonight." She pulled a piece of paper out of her suit jacket and handed it to him. "The address of the place he's staying at is on that paper."

"You sound hesitant," Robin had observed. "Why?"

"Because the person I am referring you to is not a person of high character," Zatanna had admitted. "He can be a decent human being at times, but at other times he seems to care more about preserving his own life than helping other people."

"Reminds me of someone I know," Robin had remarked. "Thanks, Zatanna. Maybe next time my visit won't just be for business."

Then he had melted into the shadows.

* * *

In the present, Robin found himself in front of a hotel. He parked his R-Cycle in a hidden place and then changed into normal clothes, a black jacket over a red shirt and gray pants with black boots. He walked into the hotel and straight up to the room whose number was on the paper Zatanna had given him.

He knocked on the door.

"Who is it?" a surly British voice asked.

"I'd prefer not to tell you while I'm standing out here where anyone can overhear us," Robin replied.

It wasn't very long before the door opened, revealing an ash-blond man who looked as though he was nearing fifty. He wore a trench coat over a wrinkled shirt and pants and he had a cigarette in his mouth.

"You are aware that stuff will kill you, right?" Robin asked.

"Sod off, kid," the man grumbled.

"Zatanna referred me to you," Robin stated in a low voice so that no one could overhear.

"She did, did she?" the man remarked. "Well, come on in, then."

Robin entered the hotel room and the man closed the door behind him.

"Now who the hell are you and what do you want?" the man asked.

"I'm Robin and I need your help to find the Apocalyptic Gems," Robin replied. "Zatanna said you had a crystal that could locate them."

"You're even crazier than people think I am, wanting to mess with world-ending magic," the man remarked.

"Not for me," Robin contradicted. "Just to keep them out of the hands of a madman."

"All right, then," the man conceded as he took a drag of his cigarette. "I got one of those." He went to his dresser drawer and rummaged through it until he found what he was looking for. He pulled out the crystal, which was embedded in the center of a steel bracelet with eight small gems surrounding it. "Here you go, kid." He tossed the bracelet to him and Robin caught it, placing it around his left wrist.

"Thanks," Robin said, "but you never told me your name."

"John Constantine," the man answered. "I'd help you out a little more, but I'm currently in the middle of what amounts to the magical equivalent of a gang war."

"A magical gang war?" Robin asked.

"Yeah," Constantine confirmed. "Don't worry about it, kid; I can handle myself. Besides, these things occur so often it's not a big deal anymore."

"Uh, good luck with that," Robin said before he departed.

* * *

The Boy Wonder rode away into the night, dressed once again in his costume. The crystal on his bracelet was pulsing and the embedded gems were pointing the way to him. However, his relentless ride was interrupted by a police radio whose frequency Robin had programmed into the R-Cycle.

_"All units, report to the diamond district,"_ the police officer on the radio stated. _"There is a burglary in progress in the diamond district. I repeat, there is a burglary in progress in the diamond district."_

Robin did a tight U-turn and drove straight toward the diamond district. He reached it in just a few minutes and the police weren't even there yet. He parked the R-Cycle and fired his grapnel gun at the rooftop of the diamond store. The grapple carried him up to the rooftop and then he saw the skylight, which had been blasted open.

_Must be the robber from that news report,_ he thought as he jumped into the store through the skylight. He landed agilely on the floor and looked around for the thief, stalking through the shadows. Within those shadows, he saw a glint of something purple. He quickly turned and threw himself out of the way of an energy blast.

"Is that you, Blackfire?" Robin asked.

"Clever boy," Blackfire remarked. "I guess that's why my little sister was so hung up on you, other than your good looks."

The exiled Tamaranean stepped into the light and Robin saw that she had changed her outfit. She now wore a small black leather tube top with frayed edges, two purple leather straps crossed in an X over her breasts, and two black chokers stacked together with two chains dangling from them. An outrageously short black leather miniskirt covered her hips and barely a third of her thighs with a black leather belt and a purple leather belt crisscrossing on her hips. Knee-high black leather boots covered her feet and calves while she wore a studded black armlet around her right arm and four small armlets around her left arm. Black leather wrist guards covered her forearms and the ensemble was completed by a black mesh body stocking underneath Blackfire's clothing.

"Like my new look?" Blackfire asked. "I certainly like yours. Much sexier than that walking traffic light look you had going on before."

"What are you doing here?" Robin asked, paying no mind to her compliment. "You were banished from Tamaran and I don't think Starfire would like you being here on this planet."

"Of course she wouldn't," Blackfire sneered. "But it's not like I have anywhere else to go . . . and this is the planet of opportunity, isn't it?"

"Not for criminals," Robin growled as he drew his escrima sticks. "You're going to jail, Blackfire, and that's it."

"I don't think so," Blackfire retorted as she fired an optic blast at Robin, who dodged the blast and lunged at her with his sticks, which Blackfire blocked.

Robin pressed a hidden button on each stick and a glowing red blade extended from each stick.

"Lightsabers?" Blackfire uttered in shock. "You know how to make lightsabers?"

"Starfire showed me how once, but I never really thought I'd have a use for them," Robin replied.

Blackfire blasted Robin again but this time he blocked with the lightsabers. Then he charged at her and slashed at her with the glowing blades. Blackfire blocked the best she could with her wrist guards, but the touch of the sabers hurt her despite the protection the wrist guards afforded.

Finally, she reached out, grabbed both sabers by their blades, and kicked Robin square in the torso, sending him flying back against a glass case display of a diamond choker. She let go of the sabers and breathed on her hands. As durable as Tamaraneans were, they weren't above feeling pain . . . and holding those lightsaber blades caused a good amount of pain.

"Good move," Robin complimented with a smirk. He shifted into a fighting stance with one arm extended in a beckoning motion.

Blackfire answered his silent challenge and came at him in a flurry of punches and kicks. The speed and force of this attack would have overwhelmed a normal human, but Robin was trained by the best fighters to walk the earth and he had the added advantage of the darkness dragon's power boosting his strength and speed. As a result, he was able to keep his equilibrium in spite of Blackfire's attack and even strike back. Once he saw a gap in her defenses, Robin spun and kicked her. Unfortunately, Blackfire caught his ankle and swung him so hard that he flew through several glass case displays – shattering them in the process – before finally coming to a stop on the hard floor.

"Don't you care that you're smashing up a store you came here to rob?" Robin asked.

"I already have what I came for," Blackfire replied.

Robin got up and went at Blackfire again, but she blocked his punches and kicks with almost ridiculous ease until Robin managed to grab her wrist and pin her to a nearby wall.

"You're coming with me," he growled as he held Blackfire's wrists behind her back with one hand and reached into his utility belt for a pair of handcuffs with the other. However, his focus was considerably – and perhaps understandably – jarred when he felt Blackfire's shapely rear shift, as though she was trying to wiggle out of his grip. What jarred his focus, though, was the fact that her butt was rubbing against his crotch. In a rather futile attempt to stop his body's natural reaction to such a movement, he jumped away from her. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Blackfire turned to face him with a smirk on her face. "What, did you like that too much?"

"No, I didn't like it at all," Robin answered.

_Actually, my dear boy, we liked that very much,_ the rasping voice whispered with an evil chuckle. _At least I did._

_Who the hell are you?_ Robin asked.

_Look at the mark on your arm and you'll find your answer,_ the voice replied.

Robin looked at his arm and once again saw the mark of the darkness dragon.

_You!_ he shouted silently. _You're the darkness dragon, aren't you?_

_Guilty as charged,_ the voice confirmed with a chuckle.

"Eyes on me, cutie," Blackfire remarked before blasting him with a starbolt and sending him flying into a wall. "I'd like to stay and chat, but the police are coming. I think I'll let you explain what's going on here." On that note, she flew up through the skylight and away from the store.

* * *

Robin fired his grapnel gun and it carried him up through the skylight and onto the rooftop. He chanced a brief look and saw several police cars in front of the building. Not feeling like explaining himself to the police, Robin leaped down to his R-Cycle, started it up, and then rode away.

"Damn it," he mumbled. "I spent too much time in there." He looked at his bracelet, only to see that the gems in it were no longer blinking. "Looks like I'm out of range."

When he heard the police sirens, he knew that his riding away from the scene had given the police the idea that he was the one who had broken into and robbed the diamond store. He also knew that law enforcement officials overall weren't that happy with the idea of costumed criminals and vigilantes, so he doubted that they'd listen to any explanation he'd give them. That left only one option.

Evade them.

So he did. Swerving through back roads and other vehicles, Robin maneuvered his motorcycle with all the skill of a motocross champion. Despite this, the police cars stayed on his tail. Robin turned in the direction of a skyscraper and jumped onto its glass-and-reinforced steel façade, using magnetic clamps to keep the R-Cycle attached to the wall.

"Holy crap!" a police officer shouted. "How is he doing that?"

Robin drove up the skyscraper and onto its rooftop. _Let's see them catch up with me now,_ he thought. _And just my luck, I'm getting close to the entrance to the tunnels._

He continued jumping over the rooftops of buildings with the R-Cycle and once he'd reached the old dam where the entrance to the tunnels was, he kept on driving until a section of the dam opened and he drove straight into the tunnels, the dam closing behind him.

Robin drove through the tunnels until he reached the underground "garage" where he kept his R-Cycle, as well as a personal flyer and a sleek red sports car that contained numerous crime-fighting devices. The best thing about the latter vehicle was that he could go out in it as Robin or as Alvin Draper, provided that the car was shifted out of its "battle mode" first.

The Boy Wonder walked up to an elevator tube and stepped inside, allowing the antigravity field to carry him up to the crime lab he had hidden in his apartment. Once he was there, the tube opened and he walked into the crime lab. He continued on until he reached his computer and sat down in front of him, soon settling into a position of deep thought.

_What was with Blackfire?_ Robin thought. _Was she flirting with me?_

_She called your new costume sexy,_ the darkness dragon brought up. _She rubbed her hot ass against your crotch. She called you cutie. If that's not flirting, I don't know what is. Of course, all I know of this world is the same as what you know._ The dragon chuckled. _All those beautiful women you knew and worked with and fought against and you never tried it with any of them. Overly dedicated to your duties much?_

_I don't date criminals,_ Robin growled. _And dating within the team just leads to trouble if the relationship doesn't work out._

_Yeah, well, Batman taught you those things and he's a goddamn hypocrite,_ the dragon spat. _He says "don't date criminals"? He's lusting after frigging Catwoman for the sake of all that is dark and I don't even wanna think about what he and Talia got up to. He says "don't date within the team"? He and Wonder Woman have been flirting and dancing together for the past year or so. Besides, you're eighteen years old, which makes you a man in the eyes of the law, which means you don't have to listen to him anymore._

_He's my mentor,_ Robin maintained. _And he's like . . . a father to me. Even if we don't see eye to eye so much._

_Touching, but you're old enough to make your own decisions now,_ the dragon insisted.

Robin sighed and leaned back in his chair.

_Just think about it,_ the dragon suggested.

_Fine, now shut up and leave me alone,_ Robin grumbled. He stood up from his chair and stripped off his costume, replacing it with normal clothes and then walking out of his crime lab and back into his apartment. He walked into his bedroom and changed into a pair of pajama pants, leaving himself bare-chested. After a few minutes of brushing his teeth, he climbed into bed and tried to sleep.

A pair of amethyst eyes haunted his slumber, silently whispering promises of darkness and pleasure.

* * *

End Notes: Yes, Robin and Blackfire have met once again and already there is tension of the sexual variety between them. Robin may not want to admit it, but the dragon in him already knows what he wants. They will encounter each other again in the next chapter, but Robin will be wearing different clothes then.

As for Constantine's presence in this chapter, I did some research on his background, but I hope I didn't get his character wrong. This is my first time writing him in any story, so I'm bound to make a few errors. Hopefully, those errors aren't so glaringly obvious.

Robin's lightsabers are actually technology that nonhuman races in the universe have access to, as at least one TT story I read has stated. And considering how eager Starfire is to help Robin, at least before she found out he was carrying a darkness dragon inside him, I figured she might have shown him how to make one. His vehicles are a combination of Batman's and Cyborg's technology, as both of them would have shown him at one point or another how to design his own vehicles. The antigravity elevator is also alien technology that I feel Starfire might have helped him learn how to use should he ever need it.

That's it out of me. You're now free to tell me how much you loved or hated this story.


	4. Adrenaline

"Coil"

Chapter 4: "Adrenaline"

Disclaimer: Teen Titans is owned by DC Comics and Warner Brothers, not a lowly college student like me.

Author's note: Now we're getting somewhere. Robin and Blackfire have met once again and already we can feel the sexual tension. In the meantime, the Titans are still trying to stop Slade from getting his hands on all four Apocalyptic Gems and so far they're coming up short.

While all this is going on, Robin still has to stop a corrupt businessman's drug dealing. How he intends to do that . . . you'll see it in this chapter.

To anyone who comes to review, I must kindly advise you against ordering me to update. You're all lucky I have enough time and creative energy to post three chapters in the space of three days. You'll get your updates when I finish writing and formatting the chapters. Until then, be patient.

Finally, I give great gratitude to **artemisgirl** for proofreading my chapters so that I don't make so many typos and to **Darkmoon**** Knight** for helping me plot each chapter.

Now let's go on with the story.

* * *

Out of costume but concealing his face with sunglasses, the young thief known as Red X read a newspaper that he'd actually paid for. After all, Red X could steal all the hell he pleased, but the young man underneath his mask had to abide by the rules of society.

That was why he liked wearing the super-powered combat suit so much. With the death's-head mask covering his face, he was free to do as he wished and give the finger to society . . . just like society had done to him throughout the formative years of his life.

Diverting his attention to the paper he was reading, Red X noticed the headline: "BOY WONDER GOES SOLO IN CITY OF ANGELS." Intrigued, he read the article, discovering that Robin had been seen in Los Angeles in a black-and-red costume with a burnt silver robin emblem on his chest. Unfortunately, no one had a picture of him, as he had fled from the scene long before any reporters or photojournalists could reach him.

Finished with the paper, Red X folded it up and put it in his backpack, which was also where he kept his suit. Then he got on his motorcycle and drove to the nearest gas station. It was going to be a long trip to L.A. and he needed his tank at its fullest for it.

"Crap," he mumbled once it was full. "I gotta pay $43.67 for this?"

"Yeah," the gas station worker confirmed. "Sorry about that, kid. With all that's going on lately, we're getting short on oil."

"You can blame that on our dumb-ass president," Red X mumbled. He'd never liked that guy one bit and if he could have voted at the time, he'd have made sure that punk never got into office. "Stupid energy policies of his are letting the corporations screw us out of everything we've got."

"Watch it, kid," the worker advised. "He's our president and there's nothing we can do about it until the next election."

Red X snorted and pulled out his wallet, proceeding to open it and remove three twenty-dollar bills. He gave the money to the worker, who gave him back sixteen dollars and thirty-three cents.

"Have a safe ride," the worker said.

Red X chuckled and put his money in his wallet, proceeding to close it and put it in his pocket. He put on his helmet and revved his engine.

"Since when have I ever done anything safe?" he asked himself rhetorically before driving away from the gas station. _Watch out, Robin. I'm coming for you._

* * *

In Los Angeles, in the crime lab hidden in his apartment, Robin hacked into the Los Angeles Police Department's files on the Hell's Dragons. According to the files, the Dragons were infamous for drug dealing, theft, vandalism, and a ruthless proclivity for violence.

_Sick bastards we've got right here,_ he thought. Continuing to read, he discovered that until a few years ago, the gangs had all been murdering each other in the streets. Nowadays, there wasn't so much of that going on. However, witnesses had reported seeing "mean-looking guys" riding motorcycles in the streets in the night, as though they were racing against each other. This had led the police to suspect that the gangs had organized illegal street races. They had tried to send in undercover officers to infiltrate the races, but with no real success.

"If the police can't infiltrate these gangs, maybe I can," Robin muttered to himself.

* * *

An hour after nightfall, the Hell's Dragons, the Street Serpents, the Asphalt Devils, and several other gangs met up at an isolated street in the city. It was time for another race.

Up until a few years ago, the assorted gangs of Los Angeles had been slaughtering each other in the streets. Killing each other was one thing, but when people who had nothing to do with whatever inter-gang dispute was taking place started dying, the leaders of the gangs had had enough. They came together and decided on a compromise, said compromise being that instead of killing each other in the streets and getting bystanders caught up in the carnage, they would settle their disputes by way of racing. Instead of whoever had the biggest gun deciding who was in the right, they'd decide who was right based on who was the best rider. Even though the street races were run by the gangs whose leaders had organized them, anyone with enough money – not to mention enough courage – could get in on the action.

The usual suspects – Hell's Dragons, Asphalt Devils, and Street Serpents, among others – positioned themselves at the starting line on their motorcycles, itching to race.

"Yo, who the hell's that guy?" an Asphalt Devil who was among the observers asked.

"Dunno, but from the looks of him, I wouldn't want to mess with him," a Street Serpent answered.

"You freaking pansies," a Hell's Dragon scoffed. "He's just a skinny little bitch hiding behind a helmet."

The subject of their conversation was a leather-clad biker whose face was concealed by a black helmet with a black visor. His motorcycle was a sleek black beauty that looked like it'd conquer most racers.

"Hey," the money collector said to the mysterious biker, "it's five G's to race."

"My lucky day," the biker replied in a voice that was muffled by his helmet as he pulled something out of the pouch on the studded leather strap around his right thigh. That something just happened to be a wad of one-hundred-dollar bills totaling five thousand dollars. "Here you go. Count it yourself if you doubt me."

The collector counted the bills. "You're good. Get your bike to the starting line."

The biker did exactly that.

Once everyone who was going to race was assembled at the starting line, a scantily clad girl stood in front of the racers with a checkered white-and-black flag raised over her head. She brought the flag down, signaling the start of the race.

The racers took off like bullets on either side of her, riding into the night like demon knights on steeds from hell.

The mysterious biker quickly took the lead with a few others trailing behind him. One biker kicked another into the path of an incoming car, causing a rather unfortunate crash and subsequent explosion of flames. A third biker slid between two passing SUVs to keep on racing. There were some bikers who couldn't handle the sharp turns and ended up crashing and burning . . . literally.

The mysterious biker jumped between the trailer and cabin of an eighteen-wheeler, miraculously avoiding being turned into street paste.

"That is one crazy son of a bitch," one of the other surviving bikers mumbled as he continued racing.

Sensing that his position as champion street racer among his gang was in danger, an Asphalt Devil rode up to the mysterious biker and pulled out a pipe. The mysterious biker seemed prepared for this, as he simply kicked the Asphalt Devil's pipe-holding hand, cracking several bones in that hand. With only one working hand, the Asphalt Devil was at a severe disadvantage against the other racers.

"I can do this," the mysterious racer snarled. "I can do this." He accelerated, his bike now reaching a speed of 150 mph. The other surviving racers accelerated as well, reaching speeds matching or exceeding his. Unwilling to be left behind, the mysterious racer accelerated even further, reaching 180 mph.

Meanwhile, the audience noticed that the racers were reaching the finish line.

"Who do you think is gonna win?" an Asphalt Devil asked.

"Dunno, but I'd put good money on that new guy," a Street Serpent replied.

"If you did, it looks like you're gonna be winning that cash," the Asphalt Devil remarked as he pointed to the mysterious racer who seemed to be in the lead.

Indeed, the Street Serpent's conjecture turned out to be accurate, as the mysterious racer came back the winner, resulting in applause from some of the audience and boos and curses from other members of the audience. The mysterious racer didn't seem to really care for the cheers or boos or curses.

"You win," the Hell's Dragons' leader said. "What are your terms?"

"I don't want anything," the mysterious racer answered.

"So you just came for the money," the Hell's Dragon's leader stated.

"I do need to put food on the table," the mysterious racer stated as he wheeled his motorcycle off the racetrack. "However, I also came for the challenge. Thought I'd find it here . . . and I was right."

"You're all right, kid," the Hell's Dragon's leader remarked. "You know, there's a bright future for you if you get with the right people. By 'the right people,' I mean the Hell's Dragons." He gestured toward the scantily clad girl holding the checkered flag. "If you need anything, go see Candy. She'll take good care of you . . . as well as show you what you could have if you join up with us."

"You sure about that, Ryuji?" a silky, arrogant feminine voice asked. "Somehow, I doubt she's woman enough for him."

"Hey, Blackfire, how'd you like the race?" Ryuji asked, turning to the voice's owner.

"It was entertaining," Blackfire replied with a smirk. She turned to the mysterious racer. "Why so shy? You afraid I won't like what I see once you take that helmet off?"

"Come on, man, we're all friends here," Ryuji encouraged.

The mysterious racer removed his helmet, revealing wet-looking black spikes that hung in teal eyes set in a handsome young male face.

"Now why would you wanna hide that sexy face from me?" Blackfire asked flirtatiously.

The mysterious racer shrugged.

"Hey, what's your name?" Ryuji asked. "I can't keep calling you 'kid' forever."

"It's Alvin," the mysterious racer replied.

"So you gonna join up with us?" Ryuji asked.

"Sounds good, but I just moved into town," Alvin replied. "I'm gonna need time to get settled in first."

"Sure," Ryuji conceded. "I can wait till the end of the month."

"I'll let you know by the end of the week," Alvin answered.

"So, Al, what do you do for pleasure?" Blackfire asked, placing emphasis on the word "pleasure."

"Outrace anyone and everyone I can and outfight anyone and everyone I can," Alvin replied, blushing slightly. He then went silent for what seemed to be a long time, coming out of it only when Blackfire rapped him on the head three times. "Whoa. Sorry."

"Where'd you go?" Blackfire asked.

"I had to shut up a very annoying houseguest," Alvin replied. "Ever know anyone like that?"

"Yeah, my little sister," Blackfire spat venomously.

"What do you got against her?" Alvin asked curiously.

"She's a naïve, annoying little bitch who goes on about the stupidest things," Blackfire replied angrily. "It's a wonder she's survived this long."

"Kid, I think it's a good idea you stop asking questions," Ryuji advised. "See, she doesn't like her sister very much and anytime you get her talking about her, she gets so pissed off that she's ready to rip anyone near her apart. A lot of good men went to the hospital that way."

"Ok," Alvin commented with a whistle.

"So, Alvin, is racing and fighting all you do for pleasure?" Blackfire asked.

"Is there anything else?" Alvin asked.

Blackfire snorted. "Come on, Alvin. Give me a ride and I'll show you what pleasure is."

"Sounds like fun," Alvin answered as he got on his motorcycle and handed Blackfire his helmet. "Get on."

Blackfire sat behind Alvin on his motorcycle but handed him his helmet. "You probably need this more than I do."

"Ok," Alvin conceded and put on the helmet. He revved up his motorcycle and rode into the night with Blackfire holding on to his waist. Underneath the helmet, Alvin blushed as he felt Blackfire's breasts pressed against his back.

* * *

Finally, they arrived at a nightclub, the name of which was emblazoned on the wall in blood-red neon: Sacrilege.

"You are legal, right?" Blackfire asked.

"I'm 18," Alvin replied.

"I'm 20," Blackfire stated with a smirk. "Ever dated an older woman before, Alvin?"

Alvin chuckled. "Is that a proposition, Blackfire?"

"Yes," Blackfire replied unabashedly.

"All right, I'll be your boyfriend," Alvin said.

"Or boy toy," Blackfire added with a laugh as she and Alvin got off the motorcycle. Alvin removed his helmet and placed it in the helmet compartment of his motorcycle.

The two walked up to the door.

"ID," the doorman ordered as soon as he saw Alvin.

"Relax, big guy," Blackfire chided with a smirk. "He's with me."

"Oh, hey, Blackfire," the doorman greeted. "Sure, come on in."

"Thank you," Blackfire answered as she and Alvin walked into Sacrilege.

"Why's this club called 'Sacrilege'?" Alvin asked.

"Look . . . and you'll see," Blackfire replied.

Alvin looked and his eyes widened at what he saw. There were people dancing together, but they were dancing so close and their movements almost seemed to simulate sex. He saw closed doors all around the main room of the club. Trip-hop and trance music pulsed sensuously throughout the club.

"It's called Sacrilege for a reason, Alvin," Blackfire whispered in his ear as her hand moved down his chest and stomach. "In here, we can flout the rules of society and while we are here we can do as we wish." She rubbed her body against his. "What do you think, Alvin? Do you want that?"

Alvin shuddered, but whether it was in disgust or arousal or some bizarre amalgam of both was uncertain.

"What's behind those doors?" he managed to ask.

"Later," Blackfire answered. "That's for later, when you're fully ready for what I can give you. For now, we dance."

Alvin and Blackfire danced together, moving gracefully to the music. Blackfire's hips rolled sensuously as Alvin held her close to his chest. She smirked as she felt his arousal pressing itself against her.

"You like this?" she asked softly.

"Yes," Alvin admitted in a ragged whisper.

"Good," she whispered as she reached back to stroke his hair. "I'm going to have a lot of fun showing you what it's like to be free." She turned around in his arms and kissed him deeply on the lips. Alvin responded, pulling her closer to him and kissing her back ardently. After minutes of fervent kissing, Alvin broke the kiss, gasping for breath.

"Holy . . . I never . . ." he whispered in shock.

"Was that your first kiss?" Blackfire asked with a leer.

"Yes," Alvin admitted.

"Well, you're damn good for a first-timer," Blackfire complimented. "Makes me wonder just how good you'll be once we've taken things to the next level."

The exiled Tamaranean was very pleasantly surprised when Alvin grabbed her by her delectable rear and pulled her into a heated kiss, one of his hands fisting in her hair. Blackfire ran her hands through his dark hair and kissed him back just as enthusiastically. After a few minutes, she broke the kiss and moved to kiss his throat, delighting in Alvin's soft, barely audible gasps of pleasure.

After some time, she broke away, sensing that the young man's mind would possibly collapse on itself if she kept going.

* * *

Later that night, Alvin – a.k.a. Robin – found himself in the bathroom of his apartment, taking a cold shower in an attempt to rid himself of his arousal. Despite the coldness of the water, the memory of Blackfire's lips on his, the memory of her leather-and-mesh-clad body against his, the memory of her voice in his ears promising him things he had never experienced before simply wouldn't go away.

He also remembered that in his moment of passion, the darkness dragon had taken him over briefly and kissed her with such intensity that it might have bruised a human woman.

"I want her," he whispered.

_Nice to see that you're finally getting in touch with your desires,_ the dragon whispered.

_Shut up,_ Robin growled.

_It's not so bad to desire a woman,_ the dragon hissed. _I have known many women in my existence prior to being sealed inside your body, particularly in the biblical sense._

_How am I supposed to fight her now?_ Robin asked. _Every time I see her now, I'm going to remember what happened in Sacrilege and I'll have to resist the urge to throw her on the ground and . . ._ He didn't dare finish that thought.

_Your mentor manages to resist his urges when he's around Catwoman,_ the dragon remarked. _I can't imagine it's so hard for you to do the same. Did he not teach you anything about controlling yourself?_

_That's the hard part!_ Robin yelled. _I don't want to control myself when I'm around her! When I'm around her, all I want is to pin her to the wall and kiss her until her lips are swollen! And it's wrong! It's wrong because I love Starfire, so how the hell can I desire the same person who did all those things to make her life miserable?_

_Desire knows nothing of loyalties, little bird,_ the dragon stated. _All it knows is that it wants . . . and what it wants it will have. So it is with us. We want Blackfire. She will be ours._

Robin didn't respond to that, instead shutting off the water and drying himself off with a towel. He walked out of the bathroom in just a towel wrapped around his waist and into his crime lab, where he found his costume waiting for him. He dropped the towel and slid into the black-and-red suit, the seam in the back closing itself up as soon as he had donned it. He put on his boots, gloves, belt, and cape before completing the ensemble with his mask.

* * *

He walked into the antigravity lift and it dropped him down into the underground garage where he kept his vehicles. He got on his R-Cycle and revved it up, proceeding to drive through the tunnels until he reached the exit in the abandoned dam. He drove through that exit and leaped onto the streets of Los Angeles.

_Ready to burn off some sexual frustration?_ the dragon asked.

_Be quiet and let me drive,_ Robin growled as he rode into the night. Soon enough, he received a police bulletin about a break-in at a museum. For a few brief seconds, his spirits rose, although he would not admit why to himself.

_What, hoping you'll run into Blackfire?_ the dragon remarked.

This time, Robin didn't answer the dragon at all, driving straight to the museum. The gems in the locator bracelet blinked brightly, signaling that an Apocalyptic Gem was nearby.

_Maybe it's Slade,_ Robin thought. _I'm looking forward to kicking his sorry ass for once._

_Yeah, that's right, take out all that frustration on Slade,_ the dragon encouraged.

Robin turned a sharp right and found himself approaching the museum. He parked his R-Cycle and advanced toward the museum on the rooftops. He saw the skylight and noticed that one of the panels had been surgically removed, as though by a high-intensity laser or a very sharp blade with a very fine edge. Putting that aside, he dropped into the museum through the missing panel, landing silently on the floor.

He prowled the museum, feeling the locator bracelet blink more brightly and pointing him closer to the Apocalyptic Gem. According to the direction the gems were pointing in, the Apocalyptic Gem was dead ahead.

Robin walked up to a statue of the Greek God of War Ares with his sword raised to the sky. He also saw a blood-red gem embedded within the hilt of the sword. All eight gems embedded in the locator bracelet began glowing powerfully, sending a clear signal to Robin that the blood-red gem was an Apocalyptic Gem.

"The Gem of Red War," he mumbled. "Figured it'd be with a god of war." He climbed onto the pedestal on which the statue stood and reached up to remove the Gem of Red War from the sword.

"Didn't know you were into theft," a familiar and hated arrogant digitized voice remarked.

Robin turned to glare at the masked thief. "Red X," he snarled.

"Yeah, that's me," Red X confirmed with a smirk in his voice.

"What are you doing here?" Robin asked.

"Stealing," Red X replied. "I assume that's what you're here for, too."

"Not like you," Robin stated with a scowl. "If I don't get that gem, someone worse than me is going to get it and he'll be that much closer to starting the apocalypse."

"Ok," Red X remarked. "I'm sure we're gonna have to fight now, because I got someone who wants that gem and is gonna pay me cold hard cash if I get it for him."

"And he didn't identify himself?" Robin asked.

"We spoke over the phone," Red X replied. "Guy had this deep, scary purr for a voice. Like a big cat just waiting for the right time to jump on his prey."

_Slade?_ Robin surmised.

Red X threw six red X-shuriken at the Boy Wonder, who dodged all of them. While in midair, Robin pulled out six vaguely birdlike red-edged black shuriken and threw them at Red X, who teleported out of the way and reemerged behind him. He tried to karate-chop him in the back of the neck, but Robin whirled and blocked the chop.

The skull-masked thief planted his hand on the floor and sent a wave of scarlet electricity through it and straight at Robin, who jumped up to avoid getting shocked and kicked Red X in the head.

"Nice one," the thief complimented. "I think you just gave me a concussion."

"Good," Robin spat.

"Would you believe that I actually missed you?" Red X asked.

"What?" Robin uttered in shock. Red X took advantage of that shock and kicked Robin into a nearby statue.

"Yeah, I did," Red X admitted. "I had more fun stealing when it was you and me one-on-one than I did fighting the other Titans. They're not much of a challenge once you get down to it."

Robin pulled out his Bo staff and pressed the hidden button that would expand it to its full length. This time, the staff sprouted a glowing red blade from each end instead of simply growing longer.

"Nice," Red X remarked as the X's on his glove glowed brightly and that glow expanded into energy swords. "Let's dance, kid."

The two black-and-red-clad young warriors came at each other, twin energy swords and dual-bladed lightsaber clashing against each other. Red X swung with one sword and Robin blocked with one end of his saber, but Red X swung with the other sword, forcing Robin to divert his attention from the first sword to the second and thus allowing the young thief to slash him with the first sword. Fortunately for Robin, the fabric of his costume was thickened modern chain mail and so it protected him from any serious injuries.

Robin retaliated by slashing Red X with both blades of his lightsaber, eliciting a cry of pain from the masked thief despite the protection his suit afforded him. Robin brought his blade down once again on X, who raised both swords in the shape of an X to block. The thief generated a blindingly bright flash of light with his blades, disorienting Robin long enough for X to slice the young hero's lightsaber in half and retract his swords long enough to punch him in the face.

"You're not a half-bad fighter, X," Robin remarked as he spat out blood.

"Thanks," X said. "I could say the same about you. This is the most fun I've had in a while."

"Why are you doing this?" Robin asked. "If I'm right about your employer, then you'll be helping him get that much closer to ending the world if you give him that gem."

Red X seemed to ponder that for a full minute.

"You serious?" he asked.

"Dead serious," Robin replied.

"Fine," Red X conceded as he pulled the Gem of Red War out of his belt. "It's yours." He tossed it to Robin.

"How'd you get your hands on that?" Robin asked as he caught the gem and placed it in his utility belt.

"Snagged it while you were blinded," Red X replied. "Hey, a good thief knows how to take advantage of an opportunity, even if that opportunity's only there for a few seconds."

"What about your employer?" Robin asked.

"Bastard can kiss my ass," Red X answered flippantly.

"If he is who I think he is, he's more likely to beat the crap out of you," Robin mused.

"We'd better get out of here," Red X replied. "I disabled the security cameras, but I'm not gonna stick around and wait for the police to show up to haul me to jail." He fired an X-grapple through the missing panel of the skylight and it pulled him through and out. Robin fired his grapnel gun and followed the skull-masked thief.

* * *

"So who are you?" Robin asked.

"You wear that mask for a reason, right?" Red X asked.

"I'm sure you're gonna tell me that reason," Robin replied as he and Red X raced across the rooftops to evade the oncoming police cars.

"If people knew who you really were, you'd end up dead," Red X explained. "And it wouldn't be just you they went after. Everyone who's a part of your life when you're not wearing that mask would be in danger, too."

"And that's the reason you don't want to show me or anyone else your face," Robin deduced.

"No duh," Red X rejoined. "As Red X, I've got a target plastered to my chest. I've pissed off a hell of a lot of people – you included – and pretty much every last one of them would like to see me cut down to size. When I take off that mask, I can go out without worrying about who's going to try to put a bullet in my head.

"You once said that I didn't care about anything but myself. That's because I only have myself to rely on. Everyone else is a potential enemy, although there are still a few people from my old life that I care about. Those people would be in danger if some very unsavory assholes were to figure out who I am."

"Why don't you give it up?" Robin asked. "I mean, you could still join the Titans, either my team or Bumblebee's team, or just become an honorary Titan."

"I don't do the hero stuff," Red X answered curtly. "That's your job."

"You could do it, too, if you wanted," Robin continued. "If you really just cared about revenge on Chang, you'd have let me fall to my death and taken him and his goons on by yourself."

"Starfire likes you," Red X answered. "And I hate making beautiful women cry. Speaking of her, what are you doing away from the Titans?"

"It's a long and complicated story," Robin replied.

"Aren't those often the best stories?" Red X responded.

Robin answered by jumping off the rooftop and landing before the R-Cycle.

"Dude, that is one sick bike," Red X remarked after landing beside Robin.

"I know," Robin answered with a grin. He got on the R-Cycle and put on his helmet. "Want a ride?"

"No, thanks, I'll find my own way home," Red X replied.

The really funny thing about that exchange was that if not for the fact that both boys were in costume, anyone watching would have mistaken them for two ordinary guys hanging out.

Robin revved up his R-Cycle and rode into the night as Red X shot an X-grapple at a nearby ledge and swung away.

* * *

End Notes: In case anyone didn't really like Red X insulting the president, I only have this to say. Several people on were allowed to post stories that involved characters bashing the French, most likely due to their refusal to help the U.S. invade Iraq. It wasn't right of them to do so and they probably offended a great deal of readers and fellow authors, but if they're allowed to do that, then why can't I voice what I think of our current president through a character?

Ah, poor Robin. It appears that the classic Bat-and-Cat Syndrome has set in. Blackfire's a criminal, he's a crime-fighter, and he can't help but want her. As an aside, I really pushed the T rating with that scene in the club, didn't I? In the meantime, he has to get in good with the Hell's Dragons if he expects to get close enough to the corrupt businessman he met in chapter 2. And what will Red X's presence in Los Angeles lead to? All this and more in the next chapter.


	5. Hexagram

"Coil"

Chapter 5: "Hexagram"

Disclaimer: Teen Titans is not mine; it belongs to DC Comics and Warner Brothers. Ryuji, Candy, and the gangs that appeared last chapter are my invention, though.

Author's note: Did anyone like the motorcycle racing in the last chapter? I got the idea from watching _2 Fast 2 Furious_ too many times in one week, but I like motorcycles slightly better than cars, so I used those instead. Expect more of that in future chapters, as well as more sexual tension between Robin/Alvin and Blackfire.

Now on with the story.

* * *

The Titans were restless. Slade had been quiet for the last several days, which worried them all because they knew that quietness of any sort involving Slade merely meant that he was gearing up for something really bad.

Cyborg and Raven had combined their considerable knowledge in investigating Slade. The cybernetic Titan attempted to track down Slade through technological means. The mystic Titan searched through her ancient tomes for anything that could have imbued the one-eyed mastermind with the powers that he now possessed.

After having no success at all on his end, Cyborg visited Raven's room. Raven opened her door to him.

"No luck?" she surmised.

"No luck," Cyborg confirmed. "You?"

"Nothing," Raven replied. "It's not as though he has a demon mark on his forehead. That would at least give me a clue as to what empowered him like that."

"You think . . . that you should . . ." Cyborg hesitated to say.

"Look inside Malchior's book and interrogate the bastard for whatever could have given Slade his powers?" Raven finished. "His knowledge of magic could help us."

"But what?" Cyborg prompted.

"I don't trust him," Raven answered. "He already deceived me once to gain his freedom. Who's to say he won't try it again?"

"Have you been able to find anything in your books?" Cyborg asked.

"No," Raven replied.

"Then I don't think we have much of a choice," Cyborg concluded.

"There's something else," Raven said.

"What is it?" Cyborg inquired.

"When Starfire and I were fighting Slade in Los Angeles, I sensed a trace of Robin," Raven responded. "He wasn't there, but I could sense the emotional imprint he had left when he was there before."

"And you didn't tell us why?" Cyborg prompted.

"Because if I had, Starfire would immediately make us try to find him," Raven replied. "As much as I like her, she is not the most clear-headed person in the entire universe when it comes to Robin."

"That's true," Cyborg admitted, recalling the time when Killer Moth had forced Robin to go on a date with his bratty daughter Kitten and Starfire had broken away from the investigation simply to make sure that Kitten didn't try to put the moves on Robin.

"Besides, he's not ready to come back to us yet," Raven stated. "I can still feel him, but his emotions are clouded, so I can't properly track him through those . . . and the darkness dragon inside him is starting to gain a degree of influence over his actions."

"That would explain why he's putting criminals in traction," Cyborg mused.

At that moment, the alarm blared. Cyborg and Raven ran to the main room of the Tower and Cyborg asked, "What's going on?"

"We just got a call from the Titans East," Beast Boy replied.

"They say that Slade's 'murder machines' are wreaking havoc at an archaeological dig," Starfire added.

"We'd better go help them," Raven advised. "They don't know what Slade's after."

* * *

The four Titans got into the T-Ship and flew to Steel City to assist the Titans East. When they got to the coordinates, what they saw was nothing short of hell. The androids' laser fire had resulted in fires all over the dig site, although it didn't seem to bother them in the least. Titans East, on the other hand, seemed to be suffering greatly from the heat . . . with the exception of Aqualad, whose Atlantean physiology enabled him to survive extremes of temperature. However, he was sweating bullets from the exertion of fighting Slade's androids and that could not be good in light of the fact that he needed to hydrate every so often to survive.

"About time you guys got here!" Bumblebee exclaimed as she flew and darted over the laser fire of Slade's androids, retaliating with electrostatic blasts from her stingers.

Speedy was shooting arrows at the androids like a madman, but the androids were dodging each and every one. "Damn it! How do they move so fast?"

Mas and Menos were zooming around at super-speed, outrunning and outfighting the androids. Unfortunately, a particularly smart android switched his laser blaster to its sword mode and it slashed at Menos, who reflexively separated from Mas to evade the swing. Once the twins were separated, the androids seized the opportunity they had been given, grabbing the twins and keeping them apart.

"Mas! Menos!" Aqualad shouted. He used his hydrokinetic powers to rupture some underground pipes and channel the water inside them to blast the androids holding Mas and Menos, each drop propelling itself like a bullet. The perforated androids were forced to let Mas and Menos go.

"Gracias, senor Aqualad," the twins said.

"You're welcome," Aqualad answered and then blasted more androids with water.

Starfire and Raven pelted the androids with starbolts and shadow-TK blasts while Cyborg shot sonic blasts at them with his cannon arm and Beast Boy tore into them as a lion.

"Hey, where's Robin?" Speedy asked as he dodged an android's laser and retaliated with an armor-piercing explosive arrow.

"In L.A.!" Cyborg shouted over the noise of laser fire.

"Why the hell would he go off to L.A.?" Speedy asked after his arrow pierced the android and blew it apart.

"Ask later!" Cyborg shouted as he blasted several androids apart.

"Ok," Speedy muttered as he continued shooting arrows at the androids.

Eventually, all of the androids were dismantled.

"What the hell did they want here?" Bumblebee asked.

Raven looked at the locator bracelet around her wrist, the gems in which were blinking powerfully. "An Apocalyptic Gem. It's here."

"Apocalyptic Gem?" Speedy asked.

"Yeah," Raven replied. "One of a set of four that when put together will summon the Horsemen of the Apocalypse and thus end the world."

"Is that what Slade's androids were after?" Aqualad asked.

Raven nodded.

"Then we must make sure Slade does not get that gem," Starfire stated.

"I'm afraid it's too late for that, dear girl," a deep, malevolent voice drawled.

All the Titans turned to face the source of that voice . . . Slade.

"Slade!" Beast Boy spat.

The masked madman held his hand out, revealing three gems colored black, white, and blue each. "I already have Black Death, White Famine, and now Blue Pestilence."

"But you don't have the last gem," Bumblebee declared defiantly.

"That's all right," Slade said. "You don't have it, either. But I know where it is. I know who's holding it. And I know he can't do a thing to stop me from getting it."

"If you speak of Robin, then you will not be able to get that gem from him," Starfire affirmed. "He has beaten you before and he shall do so again."

"You are smarter than most people would believe, but your love for Robin blinds you to his weaknesses," Slade answered, "weaknesses that I know how to exploit to my advantage."

Starfire's eyes glowed and she lunged at Slade, ready to take the three Apocalyptic Gems from him. However, Slade merely disappeared into a fiery warp, evading Starfire's charge.

"_N'mad,_" she snarled under her breath. "Robin is in danger. We must find him and assist him."

* * *

Back in Los Angeles, Robin – in the guise of Alvin Draper – rode on his disguised R-Cycle to the junkyard where Ryuji had told him to meet him and the other Hell's Dragons. He parked his motorcycle outside the junkyard and walked inside, where he was greeted by the Hell's Dragons.

"You made it," Ryuji stated.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I?" Robin asked.

"I was almost afraid you'd chicken out," Ryuji answered.

"I don't chicken out of anything," Robin stated.

"Good," Ryuji remarked. "It's time for your initiation."

"How's it work?" Robin asked.

"Simple. If you want in, you gotta kick all our asses," Ryuji replied.

Robin smirked and clenched his gloved fist, cracking the knuckles in it.

"He don't look that tough," a Hell's Dragon remarked.

"We gon' own that bitch," another Hell's Dragon added.

Robin just smirked and shifted into a fighting stance as the Hell's Dragons surrounded him.

"Go," Ryuji ordered.

One Hell's Dragon took out a length of chain and swung it at Robin, intending to ensnare him. Robin simply held his arm up and let the chain wrap around his forearm, using it to wrench the Hell's Dragon toward him so that he could knee-jab him in the stomach. He followed up with a karate chop in the back of the neck, hitting a nerve that knocked him unconscious.

Robin saw a Hell's Dragon pull out a gun near him and another Hell's Dragon edging closer to attack him. Robin threw his chained arm out, using the loose end to ensnare the gun-holding Hell's Dragon's hand. The force of that lash knocked the gun out of his hand and sent it flying into Robin's hand. Robin proceeded to throw the gun at the other Hell's Dragon's head, knocking him unconscious. He turned his attention to the Hell's Dragon he had connected to him by way of chain and maneuvered himself so that he was in his face. With one vicious head-butt, the Hell's Dragon fell unconscious.

A Hell's Dragon came up from behind with the intention of beating Robin over the head with a crowbar, but Robin whirled around and delivered a vicious spin-kick that knocked the air out of him. He grabbed the crowbar and smashed him over the head with it, putting him in the land of sleep.

"Who's next?" Robin asked with a feral snarl.

_Hell, yeah!_ the dragon shouted. _Let's kick some ass!_

Three more Hell's Dragons came at Robin from all sides, but Robin jumped up and spun around, kicking them all hard enough in the head to send them to the world of dreams for a while.

Landing on the ground, he found himself facing Ryuji.

"Now it's just you and me," he declared.

The two began to fight hand-to-hand and to Robin's surprise, Ryuji was a very good fighter. From his style, Robin could tell that he wasn't a martial artist but rather a very competent street fighter.

Ryuji swung at Robin, who moved his head out of the way of the punch and swung back at Ryuji. Unfortunately, Ryuji managed to catch his wrist and channel the energy from the punch into a throw that landed Robin on the ground. Robin just got up and kicked Ryuji, but Ryuji grabbed his leg before the kick could impact and twisted. Despite this, Robin twisted upward and kicked Ryuji in the face with his other foot, forcing Ryuji to let go of him.

"You're not bad," Ryuji remarked.

"Thanks," Robin answered. "Neither are you."

The two came at each other again, trading blows like they'd die if they stopped. Robin dropped and swung his leg out in a low spinning kick, but Ryuji jumped up to avoid it. Undeterred, Robin spun back into an upright position and kicked Ryuji in the chest as soon as he landed back on the ground. Ryuji stumbled back, but he was quick to recover and retaliate with a quick jab that Robin blocked, only for him to fall victim to a sucker punch in the gut.

"I could do this all day," Ryuji remarked.

"Likewise," Robin rejoined as he ran and jumped into the air to kick Ryuji, who blocked his kick with his forearm. The Teen Wonder flipped back and sprung up to kick Ryuji repeatedly, and not even the leader of the Hell's Dragons could stand up to the force of Robin's assault forever.

Robin finally finished it with a vicious kick to the gut that knocked Ryuji's air out and nearly made him just as unconscious as his fellow Hell's Dragons.

"Damn, you're freaking relentless," Ryuji remarked breathlessly.

"When I have to be," Robin responded.

"You're in," Ryuji said. He looked around to see the unconscious bodies of the other Hell's Dragons. "Are they gonna be ok? You really jacked them up."

"I didn't jack 'em up that bad," Robin answered. "They'll wake up soon."

"All right," Ryuji conceded.

* * *

After the incapacitated Hell's Dragons woke up, Robin was allowed to go but not before the assorted gang members complimented him on his fighting skills. Once he was outside the junkyard, he got on his R-Cycle and rode away. He was rather surprised when he felt a weight settle on the back of the motorcycle and a pair of arms wrap around his waist. If not for his extreme discipline, he might have swerved out of control and crashed.

"Just drive, Alvin," he heard Blackfire's voice whisper in his ear.

Robin shuddered with repressed desire and continued driving.

"Turn right," Blackfire instructed.

Robin turned right as Blackfire instructed and continued following her instructions until he arrived at Sacrilege. He parked the motorcycle and he and Blackfire got off and walked into the club. This time, there wasn't just dancing going on; there were also people making out passionately. Another thing Robin noticed was that the people in the club were all dressed in fabrics that fit them like second skins, like leather, latex, rubber, and spandex.

"How did you do that?" Robin asked in feigned surprise.

"I can fly," Blackfire replied with a smirk. "Now let's dance."

She grabbed him by the hand and pulled him onto the dance floor, sensually rubbing her leather-clad body against his as they danced. Robin's hands moved down her sides to her hips, holding her close as he felt his blood surging southward.

"You want me, don't you?" Blackfire whispered.

"Yes," Robin hissed. "I want you so much I can practically taste your breath."

"Does my breath smell nice?" Blackfire asked.

"It smells like heaven," Robin replied, "if heaven had dark angels such as you in it."

_The annoying thing about her outfit is that double choker she's wearing,_ the dragon snarled. _Prevents me – us – from kissing and biting that delectable throat._

As they continued dancing, Robin silently observed that he'd found a way to have sex while remaining clothed. His and Blackfire's hands roamed over each other's bodies, his hands feeling her curves and her hands feeling the planes of his body. At the same time, he felt his pelvis pressing and grinding urgently against hers.

Blackfire let out a soft moan as Robin kissed the line of her jaw and the tiny bit of throat left exposed by her choker.

"X'Hal . . ." she moaned. "I have to have you . . . _now._"

Knowing what she wanted, Robin began moving toward one of the closed doors, praying silently that it wasn't occupied. When he opened it, he was gratified to find that it wasn't occupied.

No sooner had he gotten through the door than he was pinned to the bed with Blackfire on top of him, holding his wrists over his head and kissing him like she was trying to suck the air out of his lungs. Robin kissed her back passionately, wishing that his hands were free so that he could touch her. At that moment, he no longer cared that Alvin Draper was nothing but a lie. He no longer cared that Starfire was the one he was supposed to love.

All he saw was Blackfire. All he could hear was Blackfire. All he could smell was Blackfire. All he could feel was Blackfire. All he could taste was Blackfire.

And God help him, he wanted it that way.

Blackfire broke the kiss and Robin could see her violet eyes literally glowing with need. She nudged the collar of his shirt aside and began kissing, sucking, and biting his throat, delighting in his soft gasps and moans as he writhed against her in need.

"What do you want, Alvin?" Blackfire asked.

"You . . ." Robin replied raggedly.

"Good answer," Blackfire remarked. "What do you want me to do?"

Robin couldn't answer; he was too busy whimpering in need.

"I think I know already, seeing how excited Alvin, Jr. is," Blackfire remarked with a smirk. Just as she was about to tear his clothes off, they heard an explosion. "What the hell was that?"

"Some whack job with a bomb?" Robin asked, jarred out of his desire-fueled haze by the blast.

"Stay here," Blackfire ordered. "I'll check it out. Don't need my favorite toy getting himself killed." With that statement made, she walked out the door, fusing it shut with her starbolts so that Robin wouldn't try to get out.

Robin breathed out a sigh of relief and began stripping off his clothes, revealing that he'd been wearing his costume underneath them. He shook out his cape just to get rid of the wrinkles and slipped on his gloves, flexing his fingers. He pulled the mask out of his pocket and put it on, the adhesive substance on the inside securing it to his face.

* * *

The Teen Wonder kicked down the door Blackfire had fused shut and walked out into the fiery chaos . . . only to see Blackfire fighting Slade. She seemed to be doing rather well, keeping Slade on the defensive by constantly pelting him with starbolts.

"And who might you be?" he asked as he finally knocked a starbolt aside and charged at her.

"Blackfire," the exiled Tamaranean replied as she caught him and used the force of his charge to throw him into a wall.

"Would you be related to Starfire of the Teen Titans by any chance?" Slade asked as he recovered by kicking off the wall and retaliated with a fierce kick to Blackfire's jaw.

"Unfortunately, she's my little sister," Blackfire answered with a scowl as she rubbed her aching jaw.

"Such a shame," Slade remarked. "You are certainly a much better fighter than she is."

"I know," Blackfire answered arrogantly.

"I have a proposition for you," Slade said.

"Ooh, a proposition," Blackfire remarked. "I haven't met a man on this planet who hasn't said that to me at least once."

"It is not anything of that sort," Slade amended, sounding offended. "I have no desire for your body. Only your allegiance."

"I happen to have a hard time giving anyone my allegiance," Blackfire said. "I work for myself."

"You seem like a very experienced young woman, so I can offer you something better than my usual," Slade answered. "I propose a partnership."

"What's in it for me?" Blackfire questioned.

"You hate your sister Starfire," Slade stated. "I hate her, too. She is the reason Robin is no longer in my service. If it wasn't for his love for her, I would have been able to maintain my hold over him. So my proposition is this: You become my partner and I will give you the means to eliminate Starfire. In return, you will assist me in my plans. Together, we will devastate armies and conquer nations."

"Sounds like fun," Blackfire remarked. "I'm in."

Those two words broke Robin's heart. Once again, he felt like weeping.

But why? Why did it hurt so much that Blackfire was joining his sworn enemy? He only desired her, didn't he? It was just physical between them, right? What did it matter to him if Blackfire allied with Slade? Why did it affect him to the verge of tears?

He heard a harsh, rasping laugh within his mind, quickly realizing that it was the dragon.

_What the hell are you laughing at?_ he snarled.

_Because you're so frickin' dense,_ the dragon replied. _You love her._

_Love her? How can I love her when I know just how evil she can be?_ Robin asked.

_The heart's decisions are never truly understood by the mind,_ the dragon responded.

_I'll lick my wounds later,_ Robin decided. _Right now, Slade's sorry ass is mine!_

The mark of the dragon pulsed and glowed a lurid black on Robin's right arm. "SLADE!" he roared.

"Ah, it seems our Teen Wonder has finally decided to join us," Slade purred. "Robin. It's been a while."

"Get ready to burn in your own flames, you son of a bitch," Robin spat.

"Ah, I see you've finally forsaken your no-killing rule," Slade observed. "But do you really think you can kill me?"

Robin's response was to leap into the air and viciously batter Slade with a series of punches and kicks, one of them delivered with such force that it dislocated Slade's shoulder and snapped his neck. Those wounds didn't seem to matter to Slade; he just cracked his neck back into place without using his hands and proceeded to snap his shoulder back into place.

"See what I mean?" Slade asked rhetorically.

Robin punched Slade straight in the face with the hope that the metal caps on the glove's knuckles would do some damage, but Blackfire grabbed his wrist before he could finish the punch and threw him into the wall. Much like Slade had when Blackfire had done this to him, Robin kicked off the wall and retaliated with a vicious kick to her stomach.

"Why the hell are you working for him?" he asked. Then he spat into the flames. "Dumb question. Scum always sticks together."

Blackfire gave no outward signs of being offended, but Robin could have sworn that her eyes briefly flashed with hurt and anger.

"Partner, shall we eliminate him together?" Slade asked.

"Let's," Blackfire replied as her eyes and hands glowed with deadly violet light.

Slade's fists and eye glowed with unholy flame.

At that moment, Blackfire and Slade blasted Robin at the same time with starbolts and hellfire. However, the darkness dragon's power took the shape of a fiery dome to protect Robin from their combined attack. As soon as the immediate danger passed, the dome became a sphere that Robin launched at both Blackfire and Slade, who dodged. The sphere kept going, though, at least until it blew out the entire front wall and entrance of Sacrilege.

"You're not playing around, are you?" Blackfire remarked.

The dragon mark ignited into flames that spiraled around his right arm and shaped themselves into a sword. Without saying anything, Robin lunged at Slade and Blackfire and slashed at them both with his dragon-fire sword. Slade generated a fiery shield to protect himself and Blackfire from Robin's attack and blasted Robin with hellfire as soon as the attack was blocked. Blackfire flew at Robin and kicked him into the flames, but Robin stopped himself from landing in them. Once he was safe, he transformed the fiery black sword into a serpentine blade that lashed Blackfire, cutting a hole in the midriff of her mesh body stocking and burning through her skin.

"Bastard!" Blackfire exclaimed. "I paid good money for this outfit!"

"Like I care anymore," Robin snarled.

"'Anymore'?" Slade quoted with an amused chuckle. "You mean to tell me that you harbored feelings for my new partner?"

Robin seethed silently, knowing full well that the truth of his feelings for Blackfire was all over his face.

"A Freudian slip, I'll take it," Slade mused. "Yes, that's it, isn't it? Only a heartbroken man could fight with the ferocity that you've displayed."

"And how would you know about heartbreak, asshole?" Robin asked. "You've never loved anyone in your entire life!"

"Don't be so certain of that, Robin," Slade answered cryptically. Suddenly, he whirled around and caught a red X-shaped shuriken. "You can come out now, X."

"You really piss me off, Slade," Red X stated. "I was just about to sample the pleasures of the flesh with this cute redhead and then you showed up and started burning the place down. What the frig is up with that?"

"You failed me, Red X," Slade rumbled. "I hired you to acquire that last gem and you handed it right to Robin."

"So that was you on that pay phone?" Red X asked. "Damn. Oh, well, if you're going to destroy the world, I kinda have to stop you. I'm no hero, but I'm not so warped that I'd think annihilating all existence is a good idea."

"Destroy the world?" Blackfire questioned.

"I will explain myself later," Slade replied. "Right now, we must rid ourselves of these interlopers."

"Destroy the world!" Blackfire exclaimed. "I don't want the world destroyed! I want it in the palm of my hand!" She fired a brutal optic blast at Slade, knocking him into a wall. Slade just got up, looking very displeased.

"If you would have waited for me to explain myself, you would see that there is more to my plan than the simple annihilation of this world," Slade snarled. "But since you have turned against me, you will have to join the others who have turned against me . . . in hell." He placed his hands together and made some arcane gestures, unleashing a wave of hellfire once he finished.

Robin, Red X, and Blackfire dodged the wave of hellfire and Robin shot a retaliatory blast of black fire at Slade, who generated a barricade of hellfire.

"I know you have the final Apocalyptic Gem, Robin," Slade snarled. "You will hand it to me . . . or I will remove it from your corpse. Your choice."

"You'll have to pry it from my cold, dead hands," Robin snarled.

"So be it," Slade answered before flames shot out of both hands and formed into swords. Robin mirrored his action and the two black-clad warriors charged at each other, slashing at each other. Robin ducked under Slade's swing and attempted to slice Slade's legs off at the knees, but Slade jumped up and kicked Robin, who stumbled back a few steps. Robin swung at Slade again, but Slade bent over backwards to avoid the swing, subsequently rising up and slashing Robin at brutal speeds. The slashes cut through his suit, leaving holes and burn wounds that rapidly began to heal.

A zinothium-fueled blast of red energy and a bolt of violet energy suddenly hit Slade at the same time, one striking his chest and the other striking his legs, knocking him off balance.

"Need a hand, kid?" Red X asked.

"Thanks," Robin answered.

"Three on one," Slade remarked. "As far as I'm concerned, that means you're outnumbered."

He rushed at the trio and slashed them all in one swing. Robin retaliated by swinging both dragon-fire swords at Slade, but Slade placed his hands between the fiery blades and knocked them out of the way. At the same time, he had to dodge a volley of starbolts from Blackfire, moving so quickly that Red X almost mistook him for a character from the _Matrix _films. Then he shot her with a ball of unholy flame, knocking her straight at the fires of the club.

"BLACKFIRE!" Robin screamed. The next thing he knew, he had brutally slashed Slade's side with his fiery blades and with such swiftness that the mastermind was taken by surprise.

"What the hell?" Slade asked.

"Something the matter, Slade?" Robin asked but his voice was no longer anything recognizable as human. To Red X, Slade, and Blackfire, it sounded more like the fires of darkness given a voice.

The Teen Wonder flexed his gloved fist, having dissipated his swords. "That was just the beginning," he hissed.

Slade saw the pulsing draconic mark coiled around Robin's right arm and knew the truth in an instant. "You . . . you're the dragon . . . aren't you?"

"Guilty as charged," the dragon confirmed.

"What the hell is going on?" Red X asked.

"Beats me," Blackfire replied, looking just as astonished as Red X felt.

With a roar, the dragon charged at Slade and dealt him a brutal punch, following it up with a ferocious heel kick to his wounded side and swinging himself up to kick Slade in the back of the head with his other foot. Never relenting, he bent to deliver a vicious elbow jab to Slade's chest.

"Damn, he's flexible," Red X remarked.

"Gives me ideas," Blackfire added with a lecherous grin on her face.

The dragon grabbed Slade by the shoulders while he was contorted over him and viciously slammed him onto the floor.

"Is that enough, or do you want more?" the dragon asked.

Slade's response was to teleport away, eliciting an incensed roar from the dragon. Low, ragged growls followed the roar, as though the dragon was trying to contain himself. Finally, he seemed to cool down.

"Uh, what happened?" Robin asked.

"You went psycho on Slade and kicked his ass," Red X replied. "And you were talking in this really scary raspy voice, too. Sounded like something that crawled out of hell."

"Sorry," Robin replied. "That's my houseguest."

"Looks like Alvin and I are gonna need a new place to hang out at," Blackfire remarked. "Dammit! I left him inside that room!"

"He's all right," Robin said. "I managed to get him someplace safe while you and Slade were fighting. He's probably worried sick about you."

"Thanks," Blackfire said. A smirk formed on her face. "You know, it's rather flattering that someone of your high morals would be in love with someone like me. Unfortunately for you, I already have a boyfriend. Still, it wouldn't hurt to see if you really are a Boy Wonder in _everything._"

Before Robin could ask her what she meant, the alien thief tackled Robin and kissed him passionately. Against his better instincts, he kissed her back.

Blackfire pulled away with a puzzled expression on her face. "That kiss . . . it's just like how he . . ." Her befuddled expression turned into an angry one. "You bastard!" She slapped him with almost enough force to wrench his head around a full 90 degrees. "Playing me like that . . . I hope you're satisfied with yourself, _Alvin._"

With that angry declaration, she walked out of the remains of Sacrilege.

"Alvin?" Red X asked. "Your real name is Alvin?"

Robin snorted. "Don't be an idiot, X. You think I'd use my real name if I wanted to infiltrate a street gang?"

"What the hell? You're infiltrating street gangs now?" Red X asked. "Didn't think you were willing to get _that_ down and dirty to catch a crook."

"There's a lot you don't know about me, X," Robin answered.

* * *

End Notes: There you have it. Blackfire is now aware that Alvin is really Robin and she thinks he deliberately deceived her. What does that mean for Robin's chances of staying inside the Hell's Dragons long enough to take down the crooked businessman subcontracting their drug sales? How will Robin convince Blackfire that his feelings for her are real? In the meantime, Slade's still out there trying to get his hands on the last Apocalyptic Gem, but what does he really want with them? Those questions and more will be answered in the next chapter . . . or maybe not. 


	6. Blood Binds

"Coil"

Chapter 6: "Blood Binds"

Disclaimer: Teen Titans doesn't belong to me by any means, the nice guys over at DC Comics and Warner Brothers have rights to that show and the comic(s) on which it is based.

Author's note: Aren't I evil for interrupting Robin/Alvin and Blackfire just as they were about to get it on? Sorry, had to do it; I can't get away with a lemon in a T-rated story. The really sad part is that Blackfire now hates Robin because she thinks he deceived her. At least he has Red X to console him . . . psych! Or maybe Robin will see that redheaded beauty waiting for him at Titans Tower in a new light . . . psych again! This is gonna be a Robin/Blackfire fic to the end, so all you R/S shippers had better either learn to like it or get the hell out!

Now let's go on with the story, shall we?

* * *

Robin gazed at what was left of Sacrilege.

"So what's a good guy like you doing at a place like this?" Red X asked.

"Allowing myself to be seduced by Blackfire," Robin replied bitterly. "Blurring the line between good and evil just by fighting her as Robin and nearly screwing her as Alvin. And no matter which identity I wear, I can honestly say that I desired her, maybe even loved her."

"And now she hates you because she thinks you purposely deceived her," Red X deduced. "But can you say that you didn't mean to deceive her?"

"Alvin Draper was a lie, I'll admit that," Robin confessed. "But my feelings for her weren't."

"So what the hell are you standing here talking to me for?" Red X asked. "Go get her!"

"Sure," Robin answered with less-than-total conviction. His voice grew firmer when he added, "But I have business to take care of first. Wanna come?"

"Does it involve kicking people's asses?" Red X asked.

"Yeah," Robin replied.

"Count me in," Red X said.

Robin went to his disguised R-Cycle and removed the cap concealing the blood-red R emblem, proceeding to hop on the motorcycle and rev it up. He tore through the streets like a bat out of hell while Red X followed him from the sky. Soon enough, they reached the abandoned warehouse in which the Hell's Dragons hung out.

"This the place?" Red X asked.

"Yeah," Robin replied. He pulled out a grapnel gun and shot it at the ledge of the warehouse, the grapple securely gripping the ledge. He pulled himself upward, with Red X again following him.

"How do we do this?" Red X asked. "I'm kinda new to the whole gangbuster thing."

"Just follow my lead," Robin answered.

"Sure, _boss,_" Red X drawled sarcastically.

The two masked young men leaped through the skylight, shattering it in the process and landing in the Hell's Dragons' midst in a shower of broken glass.

"Well, well, well," Robin remarked. "Did we just drop in on you guys taking cocaine?"

"Oh, crap," the shady man uttered in fear. "Not you! Not you!"

"Yes, me," Robin sneered.

"Kill him! Kill that son of a bitch and I'll only take thirty percent of the profits!" the shady man yelled.

"How about twenty-five percent?" Ryuji countered.

"Anything you want!" the shady man practically screamed. "Just kill that son of a bitch and his skull-faced pal!"

"Uh, we ain't pals," Red X corrected before shooting an X-bomb at the Hell's Dragons, who just wondered what the masked renegade was thinking. They were rather shocked when the red X exploded, knocking them all back. They got up again and pulled out their guns, opening fire on Red X and Robin.

The masked young men dodged the gunshots, moving out of the way so quickly that it was as though the bullets were flying in slow motion. Robin pulled out a black-and-red Birdarang and threw it at the Hell's Dragons, knocking one's gun out of his hands. The others continued firing, but Red X was shooting web-like X's at them that filled the barrels of the guns with red gunk, ensuring that they would burst if their wielders attempted to fire a bullet. Fortunately for X, most of them tried and most of them ruined their guns that way.

One smart Hell's Dragon got the idea to throw his gun at Red X instead of trying to shoot him. However, X had very good reflexes even before he gained access to the speed-enhancing features of his suit and thus caught the gun in the air.

"Not a very good idea," X remarked. "Tsk, tsk." Then he lunged at the Hell's Dragon and knocked him out with a single punch.

In the meantime, Robin was fighting the other Hell's Dragons, including Ryuji. One Hell's Dragon swung a length of chain at him, but Robin caught it and used it to yank him to him, subsequently beating him into submission with a few well-placed punches. After that, he swung the chain at another Hell's Dragon, one end wrapping around his legs. Robin pulled the Hell's Dragon up with the end of the chain in his hand and swung him viciously into a short stack of crates, the gangster's impact causing the crates to fall on him and knock him unconscious.

A Hell's Dragon snuck up behind him to hit him over the head with a crowbar, but Robin simply threw his hand back and hit him in the face with it . . . without even looking back.

Finally, he and Red X brought it down to just them and Ryuji with the shady man watching in fear.

"Two on one," Red X remarked. "Seems unfair."

"Yeah, well, I still like my odds," Ryuji retorted. He put on a pair of brass knuckles and charged at the two costumed young men, who easily evaded his charge. Ryuji swung at Robin, but Robin grabbed his wrist and threw him across the warehouse. Ryuji landed on the ground and rolled into a fighting stance. Then he came at Robin and Red X again, this time being stopped by Red X. "How the frig did you two find me?"

"Been shadowing you for quite a while," Robin replied. "And yeah, your new recruit helped out a bit, too."

"That little punk!" Ryuji yelled. "I'll kill him!"

"You won't get that chance," Robin replied. In the corner of his eye, he noticed the shady man trying to get away. "And where do you think you're going?"

Red X fired a binding X at him, the flexible red material wrapping around the shady man and keeping him right where he was. "So . . . it sounds like you got this sweetheart deal going with these guys here. They sell the drugs for you and you get a cut of the profits."

"Actually, they sell the drugs for him and he gives his cut of the profits to some disgusting rich guy," Robin amended. "Speaking of that disgusting son of a bitch, I never got his name."

"Who's your boss?" Red X asked.

"I don't know!" the shady man shouted. "He never told me his name and I never met him! I just give the money to his doorman at Torrid Nights and then I'm gone! And speaking of that place, that psycho Boy Wonder frigging torched it!"

"Uh, I'm guessing that was while you were fighting Slade," Red X remarked to Robin.

"Yeah," Robin replied. Turning back to Ryuji and the shady man, he said, "Even if I don't figure out who the man at the top is, you're all going to prison for a long time, considering the outstanding warrants you all probably got on you." Then he bound Ryuji in black cord with a Birdarang attached.

Robin and Red X left the warehouse.

"The police will find them all soon," Robin stated. "In the meantime, I gotta find Blackfire."

"Gonna try to win her forgiveness?" Red X asked. "Good luck."

"Thanks," Robin replied. "I'll need it."

"We're getting along rather well for a couple of people who are supposed to be enemies," Red X observed.

"We wouldn't have to be enemies if you'd just quit using the suit for your own selfish reasons," Robin answered.

"Here we go again," Red X sighed.

"I'm serious," Robin stated. "That suit gives you power and if there's anything I've learned, it's that when you have power you have a responsibility to use it for the good of the people and stop people who'll use their power to hurt other people."

"The only people who get hurt when I do my thing are the ones who get in my way and even then I don't go out of my way to really hurt them," Red X justified.

"That's no excuse!" Robin yelled. "You're still hurting people by stealing from them!"

"Their insurance will cover it," X maintained.

"How do you live with yourself?" Robin asked. "What happened to make you think the way you do?"

"And what happened to you to make you think the way _you_ do?" Red X countered. "Your parents get killed by some mobster, so you gotta go out and fight crime?" He paused before continuing. "Fighting for other people always makes things complicated. For me, it's as simple as this. Want. Take. Have."

"You positively sicken me," Robin spat. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to find Blackfire." He got on his R-Cycle and drove away, thankful for the tracer he'd planted on the Tamaranean thief during his fight with her in Sacrilege.

* * *

Blackfire stood on the balcony of her penthouse apartment, which she'd paid for with the money she'd gained from her thievery.

"He lied to me," she snarled. "He lied. All of it was a lie. All this time, he was just playing me, stringing me along . . . and I let him."

_Was it really a lie?_ the voice of her conscience, which sounded annoyingly like Starfire, asked. _Would someone such as Robin deliberately deceive you simply to pursue a goal?_

_Yes!_ Blackfire replied fiercely. _He's just like all the others, just using me! He probably never actually gave a damn about me at all!_

_Was his kiss that of someone who didn't care about you?_ her conscience asked her.

_I . . . I don't know,_ Blackfire replied. _It felt real, like he desired me just as much as I did him._

_What did you see when you looked into his eyes?_ Blackfire's conscience asked.

_I saw . . . lust and that's all that there was between us,_ Blackfire spat. _Just two people who wanted to _k'ufc_ each other. That's all there was between us._

_Are you sure?_ Blackfire's conscience asked. _If you were, you wouldn't have felt so hurt when he called you scum when you sided with Slade._

_I don't care what he thinks,_ Blackfire snarled. _As far as I'm concerned, he can spend the rest of eternity in the place humans call hell._

_Do you really feel that way about him?_ Blackfire's conscience asked. _It seemed to me as though you had feelings for him._

_Not really,_ Blackfire replied. _I just wanted to take him so that I could make Starfire miserable._ She chuckled bitterly. _Starfire__ is the kind of girl men want to marry. I'm the kind of girl men want to _k'ufc.

_And you really think that there's no one who genuinely wants to be with you,_ her conscience drawled as though it didn't honestly believe her.

Before Blackfire could answer, she heard a familiar and now-hated voice call her name. Without really thinking about it, she whirled around and delivered a starbolt-charged punch to the mouth of the person who had dared speak her name.

"What are you doing here, _Robin?_" she asked angrily.

"I planted a tracer on you while we were fighting," Robin replied. "In case I couldn't stop you and Slade right there, I intended to follow you to wherever he had himself holed up."

"Using me," Blackfire spat. "That's all you do."

"I can't say I didn't deserve that," Robin admitted. "But you're wrong about one thing."

"And what's that?" Blackfire sneered.

"Assuming I felt nothing for you at all," Robin answered. "That's not true. Alvin Draper might have been a lie, but if I was sincere about anything while I was using that name, it was my feelings for you."

"Feelings?" Blackfire asked. "You love Starfire. You always loved Starfire."

"I thought that was true," Robin mused. "But what I felt for her wasn't love. It was simply a combination of teenage hormones and my feelings of caring for a friend or sister. For you, I feel something different . . . stronger. When I'm around you, all I see, hear, and feel is you. When I'm Robin, I have to remember that I'm a crime-fighter and you're a criminal and thus I have to stop you. When I was Alvin, I could forget about that and simply focus on being with you."

"How poetic," Blackfire mocked. "But I know you're just lying."

"I'm not lying!" Robin insisted. "I meant everything I just said. When I kissed you, I felt like fire was surging through my veins. I felt like I could drink your very essence straight from your lips.

"When you joined Slade, I wanted to die. It just hurt so badly that you'd join my worst enemy, especially when I felt so strongly for you. Do you think I would have fought the way I did back in Sacrilege if I felt nothing for you?"

"Why would you want me when you have Starfire?" Blackfire asked. "She's the perfect girl for you: bright, cheerful, vibrant, and naïve. Just perfect for someone with a dark hero complex."

"I don't want Starfire," Robin replied with utter sincerity. "I want _you._ I want to be with _you._ You're strong, you're independent, and you have a firm grasp on what you want. Not many women on this planet are like that. That makes you unique . . . and in my eyes, beautiful."

Blackfire looked at him for what seemed like an eternity, trying to decipher the truth in his face, sifting through his words for any traces of deception or insincerity. Finally, she spoke.

"Take off your mask."

This seemed to startle Robin.

"Are you deaf?" Blackfire asked. "I said, take off your mask. It's the only way I'll be able to tell that you're not lying to me."

Robin reached up with one hand and peeled his mask off, revealing teal eyes that shone with an emotion Blackfire almost didn't recognize.

"Can you see if I'm telling the truth now?" he asked.

Blackfire reached for him and connected her lips to his, her almost frantic kisses saying, _I'm sorry, forgive me, forgive me, I love you._ Robin reached up and stroked her hair, his own kisses whispering, _I forgive you, I forgive you, I love you._

When the kiss ended, both Blackfire and Robin were gasping for breath.

"Don't think I'll change for you," she stated. "I'm still a thief and I still intend to make Starfire suffer."

"Why do you hate Starfire so much?" Robin asked.

"If you must know, it's because she has everything I ever wanted," Blackfire replied. "The love of our parents and the love of our people. I never got either, so I decided to follow the old saying: 'If you can't be loved, be feared instead.'"

"That's no way to live," Robin said.

"Maybe not for you, but it suits me just fine," Blackfire rejoined.

Robin sighed. "I guess the most I can hope for is that my example will eventually rub off on you. In the meantime, I have to leave. Slade can track the Apocalyptic Gems and he knows I have the final one. I can't put the people in my apartment complex at risk just because the gem I hold drew him there."

"I'll come with you," Blackfire replied. "I'm guessing you'll be hooking up with the Titans for a while and I can't wait to rub it in my sister's face that her boy is mine."

"Is it always about one-upping Starfire with you?" Robin asked.

"Not always," Blackfire replied.

Robin dove off the balcony of Blackfire's penthouse and shot a grapnel gun at the ledge of a nearby building. The grapple securely grasped the ledge and Robin swung on it, Blackfire flying above him.

* * *

Meanwhile, Titans West and East were meeting in Titans East's Tower with Cyborg at the computer mainframe looking at news reports of establishments burning down.

"Check this out," he said. "First, a strip club called Torrid Nights was assaulted by someone dressed in black and gray with armor all over his body and a half-black, half-orange mask with one eye. Eyewitnesses claimed he started throwing fire around and they got out before the flames could kill them. Next, a semi-underground club called Sacrilege was assaulted by the same guy just earlier tonight, with the same M.O. as Torrid Nights."

"Slade, right?" Speedy deduced.

"Yeah, it sounds just like him," Bumblebee added.

"Uh-huh," Cyborg confirmed. "I can guess that both times he was looking for an Apocalyptic Gem. He already has three, so I'm guessing he thought he could get the fourth at Sacrilege, but why would he go there?"

"Because someone in that club had the fourth Apocalyptic Gem," Raven answered.

"Either that, or he hated the scenery so badly he had to burn the place down," Beast Boy added.

"So how are we going to stop Slade from getting the fourth gem?" Bumblebee asked. "He's always a step ahead of us, distracting us with his murder machines while he picks up the gems himself."

Raven stared at her locator bracelet, which suddenly blinked very brightly.

"What is it, Raven?" Starfire asked.

"The fourth Apocalyptic Gem is coming toward us . . . and it's coming really fast," Raven replied.

"I guess we'll find out who it belongs to soon enough," Cyborg remarked as he and the other Titans went to the rooftop of Titans East Tower. Soon enough, they saw two objects flying toward them very swiftly. One was a purple light and the other was discernable as a small black-and-red jet. The purple light came close enough for the Titans West to recognize it as a dark-haired girl with skin like orange gold . . . skin like Starfire's.

"Blackfire!" Starfire exclaimed.

"Relax, Star," a familiar voice spoke through a P.A. "She's with me."

"Robin!" Starfire exclaimed in joy.

For some inexplicable reason, Blackfire smirked.

The black-and-red jet landed in the center of Titans East Tower and the cockpit opened, revealing two passengers. One was a spiky-haired boy in a short-sleeved black-and-red costume who was only recognizable because of his mask. The other was a very familiar black-clad skull-masked thief.

"You've been keeping rather bad company, you know that, Robin?" Speedy remarked.

"He's working with me," Robin answered as he and Red X climbed out of the jet. "Slade hired him to steal the Gem of Red War, but I persuaded him to entrust it to me. He may not be such a good guy, but even he doesn't want to see the world fall to pieces . . . and that also goes for Blackfire."

"Why are you here?" Starfire asked her older sister angrily.

"Excuse me, but you banished me from our home planet," Blackfire replied just as heatedly. "Where the hell did you expect me to go?"

Robin placed himself between the feuding sisters. "We have worse things to worry about right now," he stated. "So put it aside."

Mas and Menos zoomed up to Robin and gazed at his right arm. "Cool scar," Mas remarked.

"Yes, very cool scar," Menos added.

"I'm glad somebody thinks so," Robin mumbled. More audibly, "Thanks." He paused, as though realizing something. "When did you two learn English?"

"Bumblebee and Speedy have been teaching us," Mas replied. Then with Menos and in their native language, "You're welcome." Both boys zoomed back to the rest of Titans East.

"It's good to see you again," Raven said to Robin.

Robin smiled. "Thanks." Then the smile faded. "But we have work to do. Slade can track the Apocalyptic Gems just like we can. He'll be on his way here for the Gem of Red War . . . and here is where we make our stand. Whatever he throws at us, whatever he tries, we'll beat him back and take the other three Apocalyptic Gems from him. It's either that or the world ends . . . and I refuse to let things end like that."

"Lovely speech, O fearless leader," Red X remarked.

Robin and Raven both looked at their locator bracelets suddenly.

"The bracelet's going crazy," Robin said.

"Mine, too," Raven added. "He's coming."

The Titans, Robin, Red X, and Blackfire looked down at the small island on which Titans East Tower stood. A figure dressed in black and dark silver gazed up at them through a bisected black-and-orange mask.

"Ah, I see the prodigal Titan returns to his friends at last . . . and in the company of a pair of thieves at any rate," Slade remarked. In a mockingly parental tone, "Robin . . . I thought you knew better."

The dragon mark pulsed angrily on Robin's right arm. "I told you before, Slade, don't lecture me!"

"Someone has to," Slade mused. "Your problem is that you lack guidance and I doubt you'll find it with your present company."

Robin bit his lip, stifling his anger and the dragon's silent screams of rage.

"I'd say it, but I'm no longer leader of the Titans, so I have no right to say it," he said. He turned to Cyborg and Bumblebee. "You two wanna do the honors?"

"Titans . . ." Cyborg began.

". . . Together!" Bumblebee finished, both her and Cyborg leaping off the roof of the Tower and down to the Island to face Slade. The other Titans followed them and Robin, Blackfire, and Red X joined in last.

"Twelve of us and one of you," Robin sneered. "That doesn't look so good for you."

Starfire felt a chill inside her when she saw Robin's smirk. It wasn't his usual confident smile; it was the expression of a demon looking forward to inflicting as much pain as possible.

"Really, Robin?" Slade asked as the ground beneath them began to rumble and fracture.

"What the hell is going on?" Mas asked.

"Speedy!" Bumblebee yelled. "Don't swear so much in front of Mas and Menos!"

"Sorry, _Mom,_" Speedy drawled.

A clawed silver hand reached out from the fractured ground, followed by other clawed silver hands. Those hands pulled out bodies encased in black metal with silver gloves, boots, and neck guards.

"More of your murder machines, Slade?" Bumblebee asked.

"These . . . aren't his standard 'murder machines,' Bumblebee," Raven answered with a shudder in her voice.

"Very astute, Raven," Slade purred. "No, these aren't my typical murder machines – as you so like to call them – Bumblebee. They're the souls of the damned, souls that I plucked out of hell and grafted to my android soldiers, making them even stronger and faster."

"That's low, even for you, Slade!" Beast Boy yelled.

"How could you torment these souls even after they had passed on from their mortal lives?" Starfire asked.

"These were wicked souls," Slade replied. "The souls of people who committed many evils during their lifetimes and never repented for them, which is why they ended up in hell. They were already suffering when I found them, so I decided to liberate them . . . as long as they were of some use to me."

"Monster!" Robin screamed and drew two Birdarangs, clanging them together into a sword and charging at Slade with the intent of severing his head. One of the soul-bonded androids leaped in front of him and blocked his charge, shattering his sword with a punch that also gave him a busted nose. Robin growled and forced the bone of his nose back into place, subsequently kicking the android in the solar plexus.

All around him, the Titans, Red X, and Blackfire were attacking the soul-bonded androids. Starfire and Blackfire double-teamed with their backs to each other, firing bolts of emerald and amethyst light all around the island that struck the androids. Red X was slicing through androids with whirring X-blades on the backs of hands. Beast Boy tore through androids in Werebeast form while Cyborg and Bumblebee blasted them with a dual Sonic Cannon and stingers, respectively. Raven's soul-self viciously attacked the androids, disrupting the spiritual connections that tethered the damned souls to those androids. Speedy shot a barrage of explosive arrows at the androids as Aqualad used the surrounding water to drown them and Mas and Menos dismantled them at super-speed.

With the exception of Raven, all the heroes and anti-heroes' efforts seemed to be for naught, as the soul-bonded androids just kept coming back for more.

Blackfire let out a curse in Tamaranean. "Why won't these things die?" she asked.

"Because they're not creatures of science or nature," Raven answered. "They're creatures of necromancy, the dark arts of death."

"So how the freak do we kill them?" Speedy asked angrily.

"Destroy the bonds keeping their souls attached to those androids and they'll go right back to hell," Raven replied.

"Do you think they're aware of what Slade is making them do?" Robin asked.

_Who the hell cares?_ the dragon snarled. _They're the damned, souls consigned to hell because of the evils they committed in their mortal lives! Who cares if they're aware of what Slade is making them do?_

"Your draconic friend has a point, Robin," Slade remarked. "The souls I borrowed were serial killers, war criminals, terrorists, and dictators in their earthly lives. Why should you care what I do to them?"

"Because murderers or not, they're still human beings," Robin answered as he beat back a soul-bonded android. "And human beings, no matter how vile, do not deserve to be tormented like that."

"How noble," Slade mused.

"How do we separate the souls from the androids?" Bumblebee asked as she blasted a pair of soul-bonded androids with her stingers. "I saw you do it, but you've got a soul-self and we don't."

"Look at their foreheads," Raven replied. "What do you see?"

"I see a strange mark made in blood," Starfire replied. "It is shaped like a serpent eating its own tail."

"The Ouroboros," Raven murmured.

"I've got it!" Cyborg shouted. "Aim for the Ouroboros and we'll get them, right?"

"Right," Raven confirmed.

Robin grabbed a soul-bonded android by the head and his gloved hand began to glow with smoky purple-black flame. Then the dark flame engulfed and disintegrated the android.

Starfire and Blackfire shot their optic blasts at the Ouroboros marks on the attacking androids' heads and the now-headless androids collapsed. Cyborg and Bumblebee shot more androids in the head with a pair of Sonic Cannons and stingers, respectively. Beast Boy in Werebeast form crushed the androids' heads, aiming for the Ouroboros marks. Speedy aimed for the Ouroboros marks on the androids' heads and fired armor-piercing explosive arrows at them, thus "killing" them. Aqualad summoned water from around him and shot it so forcefully at the androids' heads that each drop was like a liquid needle. Mas y Menos used the momentum from their acceleration to smash in the Ouroboros marks on the androids' heads. Red X embedded X-shuriken in the androids' Ouroboros marks, putting the souls inside to "rest." Raven and Robin used their living darkness and dragon fire, respectively, to disintegrate and dismantle the androids.

"Now it's just you and us, Slade," Bumblebee declared.

"Yes, but look at what I've gained," Slade answered, stepping over to one of his fallen androids and taking a very familiar red gem out of the android's hand.

"How did you –?" Robin started to ask, but Slade cut him off.

"It wasn't me," Slade replied. "It was one of my androids. It managed to swipe the Gem of Red War from your belt while you were busy fighting it. I will have to thank that tormented soul the next time I see him."

"You'll give it back . . . or I'll wrench it from your cold, dead hands," Robin snarled in an inhuman tone.

"Robin!" Cyborg exclaimed. "Get a hold of yourself!"

"I'll see you later," Slade said. "I have a world to end at this moment." A fiery warp opened beneath him and he sank into it.

Robin and Red X leaped into Robin's personal jet while the Titans West piled into the T-ship and the Titans East piled into their own T-ship. The three flying machines jetted into the night sky with Blackfire following on her own energy.

"We're getting close," Raven stated.

* * *

Meanwhile, Slade emerged from the warp inside a temple. He walked to a doorway and walked through it, finding a staircase before him. He walked down the steps, getting closer and closer to his destination.

At the end of the staircase, he found himself before twin doors marked by the Ouroboros. With a blast of hellfire, he blew the doors open and stepped through them, standing before a statue of an outstretched clawed hand.

"The Hand of Amon," he muttered to himself.

"So, you're here at last," a darkly feminine voice spoke.

"Who's there?" Slade asked.

"Just me," the voice replied as a pale woman with dark hair and white-on-black eyes, dressed in a short red-and-black kimono-like dress, stepped out of the shadows.

Slade raised an eyebrow underneath his mask, as he found this mysterious woman to be quite attractive in a dark and sinister way. In a sense, she reminded him of Raven.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"Dark Angel," the woman replied. She extended a hand to Slade. "I'll take those."

Without warning, the four Apocalyptic Gems flew out of the pouches on Slade's belt and into Dark Angel's hand. The dark woman proceeded to plant the gems in the palm of the Hand of Amon. Once the gems were positioned, a line of dark light connected them in the shape of the number 4.

"What are you doing?" Slade asked. "Those are my gems!"

"Yours, Slade Wilson?" Dark Angel asked with a chuckle. "No, no, no. Those were my gems all along. I simply allowed you to do the hard work of finding them because I didn't wish to fight those ridiculous children who call themselves Titans."

Slade let out a snarl of rage and shot a barrage of hellfire at Dark Angel, who dissipated the fireballs with a mere incantation in a language that sounded like a more demonic version of Latin. The dark woman proceeded to utter another incantation in the same demonic language. The "4" connecting the Apocalyptic Gems glowed brightly, as did runes within the gems.

This was the sight the Titans and their present "allies" had the misfortune of walking in on.

"What the hell is going on?" Speedy asked.

"It looks like we're too late," Red X replied.

"No!" Robin yelled. "I refuse to let this happen!" The dragon mark ignited into black flame that lunged at Dark Angel in the form of a dragon. Unfortunately, the dark fire dragon was dissipated by a simple wave of the hand from Dark Angel.

As soon as Dark Angel finished her incantation, the runes in the Apocalyptic Gems glowed with a blinding brightness. When the glow faded, four horsemen sat atop forbidding horses. One was in black armor with a skull helm. Another was in white and was so thin that he was almost skeletal. The third was in crimson armor with a Roman soldier's helm on his head. The fourth was extremely pale with a sickly blue tint to his skin.

"The Four Horsemen . . ." Slade uttered.

"Go forth, my horsemen," Dark Angel commanded. "Go forth and end this world!"

Following her command, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse transformed into black, white, red, and blue energy and teleported away. Dark Angel smirked at the Titans, Robin, Red X, Blackfire, and Slade and vanished.

"We are so screwed," Blackfire said.

* * *

End Notes: Ah, yes, things look dire for our collection of heroes and anti-heroes, don't they? The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse have arrived and they're certainly ready to cause trouble. Death, famine, war, and pestilence will abound . . . but can the Titans stop them before the entire world is destroyed?

Dark Angel, in the Titans comics, was a wicked sorceress who tormented Donna Troy (a.k.a. the original Wonder Girl) by spiriting her into a series of parallel lifetimes that would each end in tragedy. However, this had the unforeseen effect of strengthening and purifying Donna's spirit and in the recent miniseries The Return of Donna Troy it was revealed that Donna was in effect the result of the compression of all her parallel lives into one being. Also, it was revealed that Dark Angel was yet another version of Donna that had managed to escape the compression of Donna's parallel lives.

Also, for those of you who only watch the show and don't bother with the comics, "Wilson" is not a made-up last name; it is Slade's last name in the comics, where he is also known as Deathstroke the Terminator. Of course, they couldn't call him Deathstroke in the show because that would be a little too extreme for a kids' show, so they just stuck with his first name.

The terms "soul-bonding" and "Ouroboros" I borrowed from the anime Fullmetal Alchemist. "Soul-bonding" is what occurs when a person's soul is bound to an inanimate object through alchemy, the magical science of reshaping matter. The Ouroboros – the serpent that eats its own tail – is the mark of the homunculus, a soulless creature created through failed attempts to resurrect dead humans through alchemy.

That's all the fun for now. See you next chapter.


	7. Come the Apocalypse

"Coil"

Chapter 7: "Come the Apocalypse"

Disclaimer: Must I tell you again? Teen Titans belongs to DC Comics and Warner Brothers, not me. The same goes for the Justice League and any other DC Comics characters I choose to appropriate for this story.

Author's note: I'm expanding the scope of this story a bit, as in I'm bringing in more characters. The ones I intend to bring in are mostly the magic users and magic-empowered heroes of the DCU. So you'll be seeing people like Etrigan, the Spectre, Wonder Woman, Zatanna, Captain Marvel, and such. Hell, I might even convince Constantine to make another appearance.

Shall we continue?

* * *

"Slade . . ." Robin dragged out his name hatefully. "You have ten seconds to begin explaining yourself . . . or I start cutting answers out of you."

"Robin, I had no idea you had it in you to use such methods of interrogation," Slade remarked. "You truly have progressed since your time as my apprentice."

"That was ten seconds wasted," Robin said as he pulled out three Wingblades, the vaguely birdlike shuriken. "Now I'll have to cut the answers out of you." He threw the Wingblades at Slade, who simply caught them in the air.

"Your reflexes have improved, as has your aim," Slade complimented. "A pity I am still far superior to you, even with your new abilities."

The Titans simply stared at Robin with worried expressions. The unspoken thought on all their minds was this: _He's becoming just as bad as Slade._

"Who was that woman?" Cyborg asked. "Were you working with her, Slade? Is she the demon that gave you your power?"

"Her name is Dark Angel," Slade replied. "As for the other two questions, no. She simply allowed me to acquire the gems so that she could take them for herself and avoid fighting you. I do not like being used."

"If she wants the gems to destroy the world, then what did you want them for?" Raven asked.

Slade chuckled. "All in good time, Raven. All in good time."

Raven grabbed Slade with a shadowy claw and shoved him into the wall. "Not good enough. You tell us right now . . . or I can promise that the next ten minutes are going to be the worst minutes of your pathetic life."

Slade chuckled. "I see you're quite . . . frustrated."

"Quit playing games, Slade," Raven spat.

"But games are what I do best," Slade replied. "Life itself is a game, a contest to see who is superior."

"And you think you're superior," Raven stated icily.

"Yes," Slade answered in a tone that gave everyone hearing it the impression that he was smirking.

"What the hell are you waiting for, Raven?" Robin asked coldly. "Make him talk."

"Excuse me, but didn't you say that you weren't the leader anymore, so you had no right to give orders?" Cyborg asked.

"Desperate times call for desperate measures," Robin replied. "Right now, Slade knows the most about what's going on. He was the one who started looking for those gems and he's always been ten steps ahead of us. I say we turn the tables and make him answer our questions."

"What are you saying, that we oughtta torture him?" Cyborg presumed.

"If we have to," Robin replied.

"Try it," Slade challenged. "I've been tortured by the best and if they couldn't break me, how does a callow brat like you expect to fare any better?"

Robin turned to Raven. "Get inside."

Raven didn't have to ask what he meant by that. Her eyes glowed white and her claw became an astral form of herself that entered Slade's body. Slade's eye twitched and his body shook as though he was having a seizure.

"What's happening to him?" Aqualad asked.

"He's fighting the mind-meld," Robin replied. He looked at Raven's shuddering form, realizing that the meld was taking a toll on her as well.

Finally, a black aura projected itself from Slade's body and into Raven's body, shocking her into full consciousness.

"Raven!" Robin uttered as he jogged over to her. "Are you all right?"

"He . . . his mind was too strong, too resistant," Raven replied. "I couldn't complete the meld, but I saw . . . I saw . . ." She couldn't say any more due to the fact that she had just passed out.

"What can I say?" Slade commented in a morbidly flippant tone. "My mind's not such a nice place to be."

With an enraged yell, Robin tackled Slade and held a Wingblade to his throat. "You start talking . . . or I start cutting."

"Robin!" Cyborg yelled. "Get off him!"

"Why should I?" Robin asked. "This bastard has done nothing but make people suffer! And now . . . now the world's going to end because of that Dark Angel woman and he helped her do it! He deserves this."

"Robin, stop," Starfire pleaded. "If you kill Slade, he will win because his death at your hands will have made you just as devoid of conscience or morality as he is."

"What's morality?" Blackfire asked.

"I doubt you would know what morality is, _sister,_" Starfire replied coldly, "but Robin does and I will not allow him to stain his hands with blood, even the blood of someone as vile as Slade."

Robin sighed and removed the Wingblade from Slade's throat. "You're lucky she's here," he spat before getting off the older man.

"We've gotta go," Bumblebee said. "No telling what kind of damage Dark Angel and her Four Horsemen are causing."

Robin went to the Hand of Amon and picked up the Apocalyptic Gems, placing them in the pouches of his utility belt. Then he, Red X, Blackfire, Slade, and the Titans left the temple . . .

. . . and emerged to a hellish sight.

People were sprawled on the sidewalk and cars had crashed into each other.

"Crap, the Four Horsemen really went to town," Speedy remarked.

Robin examined one of the fallen people, seeing that the person's skin was pallid and black blotches had formed on it. "Pestilence," he whispered.

"Not all of these people look like this one," Cyborg replied. "I did a scan . . . and some of these people just dropped dead. Literally."

"Death and Pestilence," Slade mused. "With the way things are going, everyone's going to be dead soon."

"I bet you'd like that," Robin sneered.

"Not really," he admitted. "It's bad for my plans if the human population is entirely eliminated."

"Then why did you acquire the Apocalyptic Gems?" Robin asked.

"I have my reasons," Slade replied. "Unfortunately, it is a moot point now. The Four Horsemen have been released and they are under the direction of Dark Angel."

"We're gonna need help," Mas spoke in Spanish.

"_Sí,_" Menos agreed.

"We should get back to the Tower first," Bumblebee said, looking at Cyborg, who was carrying the still-unconscious Raven in his arms.

"Sure," Cyborg agreed, "but what are going to do about Blackfire, Red X, and Slade?"

"I'll pursue a way of stopping Dark Angel and her Horsemen on my end," Slade replied. "You'd all slow me down anyway." With that said he opened a fiery warp and disappeared through it.

"That takes care of Slade, but what about X and Blackfire?" Beast Boy replied. "I don't like the idea of either of them inside a Titans Tower."

"You do realize I can bust into the Tower if I felt like it, right?" Red X stated. "That's how I got this suit."

"Same here," Blackfire added.

"Fine," Bumblebee conceded. "You two can enter the Tower. But I'll fry you both if you try anything."

"I'll be a good boy," Red X said. "But if you like, I can be a bad boy."

"If hearing that from Speedy doesn't work on me, what makes you think your luck will be any better?" Bumblebee asked.

* * *

The Titans and their allies regrouped inside the East Titans Tower. As soon as they were inside, Cyborg took Raven to the infirmary while Bumblebee went to the computer and began typing rapidly, her long, slender fingers flying over the keys. Finally, she tapped into the satellite news feed.

"A strange plague has swept the United States, leaving many people clinging to life by a thread," a reporter named Linda Park stated. "Interestingly enough, this plague not only makes people extremely ill; in some instances, those touched by the plague have simply fallen dead. Doctors have so far been unable to find a cure or a treatment for this plague and they have no explanation for why some people simply fall ill and others just die.

"In world news, the conflicts between North Kasnia and South Kasnia and Israel and Palestine and in Somalia have exploded into complete war and the death toll is rising extremely rapidly. Nations in the Third World are suffering from extreme famine and the citizens of those nations are dying of starvation. So far, no one has been able to explain the connection between all of these catastrophic events or even why they are happening. However, Colonel Hughes had this to say."

The video cut to a shot of a man in army fatigues with slicked black hair and glasses shielding his eyes.

"I saw what happened over in North Kasnia and South Kasnia and while I've never been particularly religious or spiritual, the men fighting were not fighting like men," Colonel Hughes said. "They were fighting like an evil force was driving them to kill each other."

The video cut again, this time to the President of the United States.

"Bee, turn that crap off," Red X snarled, the voice distorter amplifying the snarl to frightening levels.

"And why the hell should I do anything you say?" Bumblebee asked.

"I think our not-so-illustrious thief is a Democrat," Speedy remarked.

"What the hell's wrong with that?" Red X asked in a challenging tone.

"Nothing," Speedy replied. "I happen to be one, too, and so's my mentor."

"Yeah, I keep hearing all the stories from Batman about what a fire-breathing liberal Green Arrow is," Robin remarked. "Personally, I think both parties suck and we oughtta have a multiparty system so that we can have more choices."

"Are any of you even old enough to vote?" Green Arrow asked sardonically from the computer screen.

The Titans stared at the screen in dumb surprise. Finally, Speedy spoke.

"Green Arrow. How did you do that?"

"Uh, access your communication channel?" Green Arrow filled in. "Let's just say I was worried sick about you and I happen to know a thing or two about accessing channels." He looked at all the Titans and their allies, raising a corner of his mask when he saw Red X. "Didn't know you were letting thieves become Titans."

"I'm only with them until this Four Horsemen crap is resolved and then I go back to my life of vice," Red X stated.

"Speaking of the Four Horsemen, I take it you saw the news," Green Arrow said.

"Yeah," Robin replied. "War, famine, pestilence, and death. And this Dark Angel woman directing them all."

"Don't be surprised if War and Famine start working together," Green Arrow advised. "After all, when people are starving, they're likely to go at each other's throats if they think somebody's hoarding food for themselves."

"Or War and Death," Bumblebee added. "After all, War keeps Death in business."

"Are you going to aid us, Green Arrow?" Starfire asked.

"I doubt I'd be that useful," Green Arrow answered. "However, there are plenty of magic-affiliated people in the League who will be able to help."

"What's going on right now?" Robin asked.

"Superman and Flash are transporting food to the regions affected by Famine as fast as they can," Green Arrow replied. "Wonder Woman and Captain Marvel are doing their best to stop the conflicts in the regions affected by War, although that scumbag Ares probably doesn't want his fun interrupted." He paused and looked at something before turning his attention back to the Titans. "And it looks like your pal Red Star is helping out, too."

"On the Dark Angel end of things?" Aqualad questioned.

"Dr. Fate's trying to track her," Green Arrow answered. "He can't sense her, though; told us it was almost as if she didn't exist at all."

"How can that be?" Starfire inquired.

"Zatanna's got a theory that there's so much negative mystical energy out there thanks to the Four Horsemen that it's hard to pick out any particular source," Green Arrow replied. "Someone like Dark Angel could easily slip Fate's senses."

"So what do we do?" Mas asked.

"We find a way to stop the Four Horsemen," Robin replied.

"Shayera might be able to help you out there," Green Arrow suggested. "Her mace is made out of nth metal, a metal designed to resist magic. Something like that. She might have other nth metal weapons."

"Sounds good," Cyborg said.

"Wait," Green Arrow said. "Batman wants to talk to you, specifically Robin." He moved aside, making way for the Dark Knight to appear before the Titans.

"I'd like to talk to you, Robin," Batman stated. He turned a steely stare on the Titans, Red X, and Blackfire. "In private."

"Whatever you have to say to Robin, you may say in front of us," Starfire challenged.

"Ditto," Blackfire added with a note of distaste at agreeing with Starfire in her voice.

"This happens to be a family matter," Batman stated. "It doesn't concern any of you."

"If it concerns Robin, then it concerns us," Beast Boy stated defiantly. "We're his friends."

A full thirty seconds passed before someone finally spoke. That someone was Cyborg.

"Come on," he said. "We'd better leave them alone."

"Why?" Starfire queried.

"Because father-son chats aren't meant to have audiences," Cyborg replied.

Reluctantly, the Titans, Blackfire, and Red X walked out of the room, leaving Batman and Robin alone.

* * *

"What brings you here?" Robin asked.

"We need to talk," Batman answered curtly.

"About?" Robin prompted.

"You're losing control," Batman stated.

"How do you figure that?" Robin inquired.

"I've been keeping tabs on you," Batman admitted. "And your behavior as of late has had me worried. You left the Titans. You changed your costume. You've started using extreme force on criminals . . . and you're in a relationship with a thief and a killer."

"You mean Blackfire," Robin remarked. "Honestly, it's not that different from what you get up to with Catwoman when Wonder Woman's not looking."

"I am not two-timing Wonder Woman," Batman spoke through gritted teeth.

"Right," Robin agreed. "To even consider two-timing, you'd have to be in an actual relationship with either of them."

"My personal life is none of your business," Batman declared in an extremely calm and measured voice. At least, that was how it would sound to an outside observer. Robin knew Batman well enough to know that underneath the calm demeanor was a powerful frustration.

"And you think it's your business to run my life?" Robin asked.

"You're still my partner," Batman replied. "Therefore, what you do _is_ my business."

"Didn't we dissolve that when you decided that I couldn't handle myself out there?" Robin asked. "That you shouldn't have involved me in your crusade?"

"I recall that night very well," Batman answered. "The next morning, you'd packed your things and traveled all the way across the country. Then you formed your Titans."

"Yeah, those were some good times," Robin commented with a smile.

Surprisingly, Batman smiled as well. "I miss seeing you smile. It reminds me . . . of what it's like to be human."

"I haven't felt so human in a long time," Robin admitted. "Ever since Slade came into our lives, I've felt like it was my sole mission in life to stop him and nothing else mattered."

"Not even the safety of your friends?" Batman prompted.

"Not even that," Robin admitted. He remembered Raven, lying on an infirmary cot because he'd made her try to mind-meld with Slade so that he could find out what Slade had been plotting. "Oh, God . . . what have I done? What have I allowed myself to become?"

He stared at the mark of the darkness dragon on his right arm, the mark that had caused him so much grief in such a short time.

"It's tempting, isn't it?" Batman mused sadly. "To give in to your anger, your hate, and just act no better than your enemies. You remember what the Joker did to Batgirl?"

"Yeah," Robin muttered sadly.

"I wanted to kill him," Batman admitted. "I was perfectly ready to kill him. I was willing to throw away everything I believed in, everything I tried to instill in you, just so I could make him pay. Commissioner Gordon made me stop, and he had more reason than I did to see Joker dead. He shot at me twice and warned me that if I didn't stop beating him to death, his third shot would put a bullet in my head."

"Why did he make you stop?" Robin asked.

"Because he knew that if I killed Joker, I would be turning my back on everything I believed in, everything he and I worked together to accomplish in Gotham," Batman answered. "And I'm here to help you the same way he helped me. You haven't crossed the line yet and if I believed that there was a god out there that gave a damn about what happened to us, I would thank him or her for that. As long as you continue to nourish your hatred for Slade, it becomes increasingly likely that you will, though. I know what he did to you and your friends and what he made you do and I know that you have reason to hate him. I am warning you right now that if you continue to fight the way you have, letting your rage instead of your reason guide you, then you will find yourself on the path that he wants you to take, the path to becoming just like him . . . and I know you don't want that."

"Whoa," Robin uttered. "That's the most I've heard you say in one breath in a while."

"Don't make me do it again," Batman stated. "Actions are a better judge of character than words."

"Heh, thanks," Robin said.

"You're welcome," Batman answered. "Just remember that I'm here if you need me . . . and the League will be on call for you as long as Dark Angel and her Horsemen are on the loose."

"All right," Robin said.

"Good luck . . . Richard," Batman said before ending the communication.

* * *

In a zone of darkness separate and yet adjacent to this dimension, Dark Angel watched the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse wreak devastation on Earth. She smiled as she watched humans all over the world dying from war, starvation, and sickness. Despite all of this, there was one thing that irked her.

"They're not working fast enough," she muttered. "There are still too many living humans . . . and the Teen Titans and the Justice League are most likely doing everything they can to stop my Horsemen. Not like they actually can . . . but there are a few among them that could be a serious problem."

She waved a hand and the image before her changed to the face of a black-haired girl with star-shaped earrings.

"This will all be worth it," she whispered. "Just to see you dead."

* * *

Back on Earth, in the infirmary of the East Titans Tower, Raven awakened.

"Raven!" Starfire exclaimed. "You are all right!"

"Yeah," Raven said, "but I've got a massive migraine."

"I shall fetch your herbal tea!" Starfire declared and zoomed out of the room to make some herbal tea for Raven.

"Go after her," Raven told Cyborg. "Make sure she doesn't wreck my tea."

"Sure," Cyborg said and started to walk out of the infirmary. He stopped in his tracks and turned to the Titans East when he realized something. "Wait. Do you guys even have herbal tea?"

"No," Bumblebee replied.

"Oh," Cyborg uttered. "I'd better tell Star before she wrecks your kitchen trying to find it." He walked out of the infirmary.

"Where's Robin?" Raven asked.

"Having a private conversation with Batman," Red X replied. "Wonder what those two talk about."

"Probably the proper method of throwing a boomerang shaped like a flying animal or a shuriken," Beast Boy replied. "Either that, or how to drive a high-powered car through traffic while pursuing the Joker."

Blackfire snickered. "Funny, but I don't see why Pointy Ears had to kick us out."

"Ever think that maybe what he had to say to Robin was something he didn't want to say in front of you?" Raven asked. "And if it was top-secret information, I doubt he'd want to share it with a criminal in the room."

Blackfire glared at Raven.

At that moment, Robin walked into the infirmary with his black cape wrapped around his body like a cloak. "Hi, Raven. How are you?"

"I'm awake, but I have a headache," Raven replied.

Robin removed his hands from his cape, revealing a cold compress wrapped in a white cloth. "This should help," he said as he placed it on her forehead.

"Thanks," Raven said.

Robin smiled. "You're welcome."

Unbeknownst to the two, Blackfire was gazing at them jealously. Starfire, who had just returned from the kitchen with Cyborg, saw Robin and Raven together and jealousy boiled in her heart as well.

Robin looked at Raven as though he wanted to say something but couldn't.

"I know what you want to ask me," Raven said. "You want to ask if I managed to see anything inside Slade's twisted head that would have given us a clue to what Slade wanted to do with those Apocalyptic Gems."

"I couldn't ask that of you," Robin said remorsefully. "Not after you were hurt because of me."

"I didn't have to listen to you," Raven stated. "I only did what you said because I trusted you."

"I can't even trust myself now," Robin admitted. "The darkness dragon has started influencing some of my actions and because of that I'm losing control of myself, losing sight of what it is I'm supposed to be fighting for. I made you mind-meld with Slade because I wanted so badly to rip the information out of Slade. After you passed out, I was ready to torture him if that was what it took to make him talk. I'm sorry, Raven."

"So am I," Raven answered. "If I'd been able to help you more, get the others to see that you were still you regardless of the darkness dragon inside you, then you wouldn't have left us."

"I guess we all have something to be sorry for," Beast Boy admitted, in an unusually (for him) serious tone.

"Uh-huh," Cyborg agreed. "We were stupid, Robin. Really stupid. And we're sorry."

"Thanks," Robin said.

"You're welcome," Cyborg responded and the two banged fists in the gesture of friendship.

"So if we're done with this Hallmark card moment, can we get back to the fact that we've got the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse running around wiping out all life on the planet?" Bumblebee asked.

Just then, Cyborg's communicator went off and he answered it. "Hotspot?"

"I'm in trouble," the fire manipulator spoke. "I'm trying to stop a conflict in Somalia, but nothing I do will convince them to stop or slow down! I burned a giant hole between them, but they just went into the hole to try to get at each other! I can't even get a ceasefire out of them!"

"That's War," Cyborg stated.

"War?" Hotspot repeated. "I know what war is!"

"I meant that you're dealing with the Horseman of War," Cyborg clarified. "As in the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. This woman named Dark Angel released them to destroy the world. People are killing each other in Africa, in Eastern Europe, and in the Middle East. All over the world, people are dying from starvation and disease . . . or just dropping dead."

"Damn" was all Hotspot could say.

"That's about right," Cyborg said.

"I got in touch with Kid Flash and Wonder Girl," Hotspot mentioned. "Kid Flash is doing the high-speed courier thing with the Flash and Superman and Wonder Girl is helping Wonder Woman."

"I just got word that there are thunderstorms in the areas affected by Famine," Aqualad said. "Must be Thunder and Lightning's handiwork."

"Yeah, it sounds like them," Beast Boy remarked.

"We cannot stay here any longer while this monstrous woman uses the Four Horsemen to systematically erase all life on this planet!" Starfire declared.

"I hate to say it, I really hate to say it, but Starfire's right," Blackfire agreed. "Let's smash open a barrel of whoop-ass on this bitch!"

"Except we can't find her," Speedy cut in. "Green Arrow told us Dr. Fate couldn't find her with his mystical senses and that Zatanna believes that there's so much negative energy out there thanks to the Horsemen that it would be easy for her to hide from him."

"Maybe the reason she can conceal herself is that she's in a different plane of existence," Raven surmised.

"A different plane of existence?" Robin asked.

"Yes," Raven answered. "That must be how Dark Angel is concealing herself from Dr. Fate."

At that moment, the alarm blared.

"Raven, you stay here and recover; the rest of us will handle it," Cyborg ordered before going into the main room with the other Titans, Red X, and Blackfire. Once inside the main room, Cyborg accessed the computer. "There's a disturbance in West Heights."

"Isn't that one of those gated communities?" Speedy asked.

"Yeah," Bumblebee replied. "The disturbance is being attributed to 'gangs of hoodlums.'"

"Class conflict at its worst," Cyborg remarked. "Titans Together!"

The Titans ran out of the room and Red X and Blackfire followed them.

"Robin?" Starfire asked as she turned back to him. "Why are you not coming with us?"

"I'll be right there, Star," Robin replied. "I just need to take care of some things first."

Starfire looked at him once before joining the other Titans, her wayward sister, and Red X.

* * *

End Notes: So what are these things Robin needs to take care of? How will the Titans beat back Dark Angel and her Four Horsemen? Who is this girl Dark Angel seems so bent on killing? The answers to those questions will emerge in the next chapter . . . well, not all of them, but enough so that you'll be satisfied.

Now I understand that this whole chapter was pretty much exposition, but it was necessary to advance the plot. Don't worry, you'll get the action you crave in the next chapter and you'll get to see some of those magic users and magic-empowered heroes I keep talking about.

By the way, I seriously deviated from type. In most of my TT stories, I have Tim Drake as Robin. In this chapter, due to his conversation with Batman, I've made it very bloody obvious that this Robin is Richard Grayson.

Finally, I have yielded to the demands of a few of my reviewers and will have a confrontation between Starfire, Raven, and Blackfire concerning Robin in a future chapter.

See you next chapter.


	8. A Knight Reborn

"Coil"

Chapter 8: "A Knight Reborn"

Disclaimer: Teen Titans, both the comic and the cartoon, does not belong to me; it belongs to DC Comics and Warner Brothers. Any characters you recognize from the Justice League (either comic or cartoon) do not belong to me, either; they too are owned by DC Comics and Warner Brothers.

Author's note: If anyone was bored by the last chapter, I apologize for that. However, for a plot to advance the story can't be nothing but action; the characters need to interact with each other in ways other than beating the crap out of each other, particularly when they're supposed to be friends. Nevertheless, I promise you action, I promise you guest stars, and I promise you . . . the dawn of a new hero. Or an old one with a new name.

Go time.

* * *

The Titans, Red X, and Blackfire found themselves amidst chaos when they entered West Heights. Homes were burning, windows had been smashed in, and cars had been tagged with graffiti.

"Holy crap," Red X remarked. "They could have just swiped the car. They didn't have to wreck it."

"Those poor babies!" Cyborg exclaimed.

"Yes, the babies inside those homes must be very frightened," Starfire mused sadly.

"I meant the cars," Cyborg corrected. "But you're right about the real babies."

"There's ten of us," Bumblebee stated. "Cy, Aqualad, Star, Blackfire, you're going to help me rescue the people in the burning mansions. X, Speedy, Mas y Menos, Beast Boy, you track down the guys vandalizing this neighborhood and stop them." She aimed a glare in Red X's direction. "Don't hurt them."

"I'm a thief, not a killer," Red X said.

Cyborg, Aqualad, Starfire, Blackfire, and Bumblebee went to a burning mansion, Starfire, Blackfire, and Bumblebee flying and Starfire carrying Cyborg as Aqualad surfed on a tidal wave. Once inside the mansion, Aqualad ruptured the water pipes and the water that burst forth from those pipes extinguished the fire.

"It's ok!" Bumblebee shouted up the stairs. "It's safe to come down now!"

The family that had been living in the mansion came down the steps. "The Titans?" the mother asked.

"The Titans!" the young son exclaimed happily. "Thank you!"

"Yes, thank you so much," the father said.

"You are welcome," Starfire said with a smile.

"We'd like to stick around, but there are other people in this neighborhood that are still in danger," Cyborg said. "You'll be safe in here."

"Yeah, and I'd get the pipes replaced if I were you," Aqualad added. "I had to break them to put out the fire."

The five proceeded to depart from the mansion and go on to save someone else from their burning mansion.

* * *

Meanwhile, Red X, Speedy, Mas y Menos, and Beast Boy were hunting down the hoodlums. They found them ready to throw a firebomb into another mansion. Red X threw an X-shuriken at the hoodlum holding the firebomb and the aforementioned hoodlum dropped the firebomb when the X-shuriken struck his hand.

"Now, now, now," X remarked. "It's not nice to incinerate people's homes."

"Stupid Titan!" a hoodlum yelled and opened fire on Red X, who just stood there and let the bullets hit him.

"X, why the hell are you letting them shoot at you?" Beast Boy asked.

"Relax, Beast Baby," Red X replied as he finally started dodging the bullets. "The suit's bulletproof." He kicked the gun out of the hoodlum's hand with enough force to also break a finger or two. "By the way, ass-clown, don't ever call me a Titan again."

Speedy put on a rebreather and nocked an arrow. "Get out of the way, guys."

Seeing what Speedy was up to, Mas y Menos, Beast Boy, and Red X got out of the way. Speedy fired the arrow at the hoodlums' feet and it released knockout gas on impact. Fortunately, Red X had a rebreather built into his mask along with the voice distorter and thus he was protected from the gas. Mas y Menos and Beast Boy were keeping a safe distance away from the gas.

"That takes care of them," Speedy remarked, removing his rebreather once the gas had dissipated.

"Yeah, but didn't the report say _gangs_ of hoodlums, as in more than one?" Beast Boy asked.

"Uh-huh," Speedy replied. "Split up and canvass the neighborhood. We need to make sure that no one else is out there vandalizing this place."

Mas y Menos touched hands and zoomed off in one direction while Beast Boy transformed into an owl and flew in another direction. Speedy and Red X took off on foot in separate directions.

* * *

In another neighborhood, a gang of skinheads was tagging a Jewish neighborhood with swastikas and the word "kyke." In addition to that, some skinheads bashed various cars parked in the streets with baseball bats.

"Yeah!" a skinhead yelled. "Tear it up! Tear up this goddamn kyke neighborhood!"

The bashing of the cars had set off their alarms, which drew out the people who normally drove those cars.

"What are you doing?" a woman asked.

"What do you think we're doing, kyke bitch?" a skinhead asked with a sneer in his voice. "We're tearing up your hood."

"Stop it!" a man shouted.

"Shut up, old man, or you're gonna get it!" another skinhead yelled.

The man ran to them and tried to stop them from damaging his car any further, but two skinheads grabbed him by the arms while a third began punching him viciously in the stomach.

"Stupid kyke!" the skinhead yelled.

"Get away from my husband!" the woman yelled, running at the skinheads only to be tripped by one. She fell to the ground hard, bruising her hands when she used them to brace herself. Another two skinheads pulled her up by her arms while another came up to her with a switchblade.

"You're gonna die, bitch," the skinhead rasped cruelly. Just as he was about to slit her throat, a black-and-blue vaguely birdlike shuriken knocked the switchblade out of his hand. "What the hell?"

"Nothing like neo-Nazi bashing to kick off the night, huh?" a young male voice remarked sardonically.

"Who are you?" a skinhead asked as he drew an Uzi. "Show yourself!"

"What's the matter, scared?" the voice asked. "Is it no longer so thrilling to intimidate people when there's someone more intimidating than you waiting for you?"

"Mother –" the Uzi-holding skinhead yelled, the rest of his curse cut off by the sound of gunfire. Despite his efforts, the thud of a body falling to the ground was not heard. "What the frig?"

"Racist with a trigger finger and crappy aim," the voice remarked. "Not a very good combination."

"Who the frig are you?" the skinhead asked.

Another vaguely birdlike shuriken knocked the Uzi out of the hand of the skinhead holding it.

"Quit hiding in the shadows, you freak!" another skinhead yelled.

"Isn't that what you do?" the voice asked. "I never heard of a skinhead beating on Jews in daylight."

"Shut up!" a third skinhead yelled. "Shut up and die!" He pulled out a semiautomatic weapon and opened fire, screaming with rage as he pulled the trigger. As with his companion, the thud of a body falling to the ground was not heard. "Where the hell are you hiding, you bastard?"

"Oh, you want me to come out?" the voice asked. "Fine."

A dark shadow descended upon the skinheads, fists and feet smashing into faces, ribcages, and stomachs. One skinhead tried to tackle the shadow from behind and was repelled by an elbow to his nose. Another skinhead retreated some distance from the shadow and threw a knife at him, but the shadow moved out of the way of the blade. The rest simply attempted to escape, but the shadow would not allow it.

A skinhead crawled away in terror but was grabbed by the ankle by the shadow and hurled into a nearby car.

"_What are you?"_ the skinhead asked in complete and utter fear.

The shadow stepped into the light of the streetlamps, revealing that he was a black-haired young man dressed in form-fitting black with a vaguely birdlike domino mask concealing his eyes. A navy blue bird emblem covering his chest and pieces of silver-white armor at his shoulders, knees, and feet accented his suit. In addition, silver-white bracers around his wrists connected to white caps on his knuckles and rectangular navy strips covered the outsides of his legs. Three buckled straps wrapped around each upper arm and a silver-white belt completed the ensemble.

"I'm Nightwing," the young man stated. "Now get the hell out of here unless you want me to make your punishment worse."

The skinheads scattered in fear for their lives and the couple they had menaced before looked at their mysterious rescuer.

"Thank you," the woman said.

"You're welcome," Nightwing answered with a ghost of a smile on his face. Then he disappeared into the shadows once again.

* * *

Back in West Heights, Red X had stumbled upon a rather horrifying sight. That sight was the hoodlums that had been vandalizing the neighborhood getting the crap beaten out of them by the private security officers hired by the residents. Some had been beaten to the point where they were unable to offer any further resistance, but the rest were trying their best to fight back. The ones that fought too hard ended up with bullets embedded in their brains.

"What the hell are you doing?" Red X asked as he bound some of the officers in an X-web. "You're supposed to be the good guys!"

"We're just taking out the trash," one unbound officer answered callously.

"If you don't mind, we'd like to get back to doing that," another unbound officer added.

"You mean beating and murdering human beings?" Red X asked, his sense of justice and righteous anger awakened for the first time in years.

"You call this scum human?" an officer asked. "They're just animals that prey on law-abiding people."

"Would you say that about all lawbreakers, or just the ones that happen to be poor minorities?" Red X asked.

"Get out of our way, kid, or else we'll have to hurt you," another officer answered.

"You asked for this," Red X muttered before shooting red energy bolts at the remaining unbound officers, knocking them unconscious. He crouched in front of the officers he had managed to bind. "I'm going to find a phone and call the real police. That way you can go to jail for brutalizing and murdering people when you're just supposed to arrest them."

Red X proceeded to do exactly that, sneaking into a mansion and finding a cell phone in a teenage girl's large pink bedroom. He pulled the charger out of the cell phone and walked downstairs without making a single noise. He pulled off his mask and dialed 911.

"This is the Steel City Police Department," the operator greeted him.

"I'm calling to report a crime in West Heights," Red X stated in his natural voice. "Several officers in the private security force hired by the residents of this neighborhood beat and murdered several people who came in to tear it up."

"Don't worry, sir, the police are on their way," the operator said.

"Thank you," Red X said and closed the cell phone. Pulling the mask back on, he sneaked back up into the girl's bedroom and put her cell phone back in its charger. Then he left the mansion and stood watch over the bound and unconscious private security officers.

"Good work, X," a familiar voice remarked. "Didn't know you had it in you."

"Thanks, Robin," Red X answered without really thinking. Then he turned to face "Robin" and found himself face to face with a masked young man dressed in a black-and-navy costume accented by pieces of silver-white armor. "Who the freak are you?"

"I _was_ Robin, but you can call me Nightwing now," the young man replied.

"Cool name," Red X remarked.

"So what brought about this new heroic attitude?" Nightwing asked.

"I just got mad seeing people abuse their power like that," Red X replied. "Using it as an excuse to thrash other people, treat them like they're lower than dirt . . . that's the whole reason I stole this suit."

"So you could take power for yourself instead of letting people with power lord it over you?" Nightwing deduced.

"Basically," Red X confirmed.

The police soon arrived, followed by several ambulances. "Red X!" an officer shouted, pointing a gun at him. "Turn around and put your hands on your head!"

"Wait, officer," Nightwing said. "Red X was the one who stopped those security officers from doing worse to those guys. They were vandals and hoodlums, but they didn't deserve to be beaten and shot."

"True," the officer admitted. "But that doesn't change the fact that Red X is wanted for numerous thefts."

The officer's partner turned to him. "Right now, we have worse to worry about than one petty thief. We've got people in need of medical care and people who are gonna have to go to the morgue, not to mention people we're gonna have to arrest."

"Damn," the officer muttered. More audibly, "It's like everyone's losing their goddamn mind."

The police and paramedics loaded up the security officers into the patrol cars and the hoodlums into the ambulances. After they'd gone, Nightwing turned to Red X.

"We'd better find the other Titans," he said to the skull-masked thief.

"Sure," Red X answered and he and Nightwing went to find the Titans. The duo found Cyborg, Bumblebee, Aqualad, Starfire, and Blackfire fighting off the attempts of yet another gang of hoodlums. They looked drenched, as though Aqualad had given them a bath with his hydrokinetic powers. The impromptu bath hadn't seemed to calm them any, though.

"You think we oughtta give 'em a hand?" Red X asked from his perch on a nearby mansion.

Cyborg was doing his best to protect the other four, as his armor was bulletproof.

"If this goes on, one of them's gonna get hurt," Nightwing mused from beside X. "And yes."

The two black-clad fighters descended on the hoodlums and from that moment on it was sheer pandemonium. The hoodlums opened fire on Nightwing and Red X, who flipped out of the way of the bullets in opposite directions. Nightwing reached for one of the strips on his leg and pulled it, revealing that it was the opening for a weapon compartment. He pulled out a narrow piece of black metal and blue-edged black wings popped out of it. He threw the winged object at a hoodlum, knocking the gun out of his hand and lacerating the aforementioned hand.

Red X clogged their guns with X-shuriken that exploded into red goop a few short seconds later, permanently jamming their weapons. He proceeded to sock one hoodlum in the face while jamming his elbow into the nose of another. He flipped backwards into the air and landed with his foot in the face of a third hoodlum, proceeding to use him as a launching pad to smash a fourth's jaw.

"I recognize Red X, but who's the dude in the black and blue?" Cyborg asked.

"I do not know, but his fighting style is quite familiar, as are his weapons," Starfire replied.

Nightwing and Red X finished off the last hoodlum with a double kick to his chest.

"That should take care of them," Nightwing remarked.

"Robin?" Starfire asked. "Is that you?"

"Yes and no," Nightwing replied. "Yes, Robin was my name, and no, it is no longer my name. Call me Nightwing."

"It is . . . just like my vision of the future," Starfire uttered.

"Ooh, come to mama, gorgeous," Blackfire purred.

"Some time later," Nightwing answered, mouthing the words, "When we're alone."

Starfire was quite irked by Blackfire's flirtation with Nightwing as well as Nightwing's response to her. She did not like the fact that "her boy," as she thought of him, was apparently falling for her wicked older sister's charms.

"So where'd the new costume and gear come from, 'Nightwing'?" Cyborg asked.

"It's something I whipped up recently," Nightwing replied.

"Ok," Cyborg said.

"We'd better find Beast Boy, Mas y Menos, and Speedy," Nightwing said. "No telling what trouble they might have found themselves in."

* * *

To the relief and astonishment of the Titans, Blackfire, Red X, and Nightwing, there was no trouble to be found on their friends' end.

"It was easy," Mas remarked in English.

"Too easy, maybe?" Menos mused in Spanish.

"Maybe," Bumblebee agreed.

"Dude!" Beast Boy exclaimed when he saw Nightwing. "That you, Robin?"

"Yeah," Nightwing replied, "and it's Nightwing now."

"Cool name," Speedy complimented. "Heh, makes me think about updating my own costume and arsenal. Arsenal . . . that's a cool-sounding name."

"Yeah, Quickie, we know," Bumblebee snorted.

"I'll have you know, Bumblebee, that I can last a _very_ long time," Speedy rejoined. "I ain't a one-minute man."

"Speedy!" Bumblebee yelled. "Not in front of Mas y Menos!"

The hyper-fast twins scratched their heads in confusion. _Just what is Speedy talking about?_ they wondered at approximately the same time.

"Why do you have to turn everything I say into a perverted joke?" Bumblebee asked.

"Because it's fun to see you get all riled up," Speedy replied with a smirk. "Besides . . . you're cute when you're angry."

"Is this what passes for flirtation between you two?" Nightwing asked dryly.

"Yup, just part of the twisted game of love we play," Speedy answered just as dryly.

"Shut it, Speedy," Bumblebee snapped. "We have more important things to worry about."

"Oh, yeah, the apocalypse," Speedy uttered in remembrance.

"Wait," Nightwing said, holding up a hand. "Raven's in trouble."

"How do you know?" Blackfire asked.

"We have a bond," Nightwing replied softly before jumping on the Night-Cycle, which used to be the R-Cycle until he replaced the R-symbol with the symbol of a blue bird, and revving it up. He drove away from West Heights like a bat out of hell, heading straight for East Titans Tower. Aqualad followed him on a tidal wave while Bumblebee, Starfire, Beast Boy as a pterodactyl, and Blackfire flew. Starfire carried Cyborg, Blackfire carried Red X, and Beast Boy carried Speedy on his back. Mas y Menos held hands and zoomed ahead, just fast enough to keep up with Nightwing but not pass him.

* * *

By the time they reached East Titans Tower, it was a scene of chaos. Creatures made of fire and bone were attacking Raven and Raven was doing her best to fight back. To the surprise of the Titans and their allies, Raven had help . . . in the form of a black-haired girl who was fighting back the creatures with a strength that couldn't possibly belong to a normal human.

The girl wore a black V-necked top with a star-field pattern decorating the front and red spandex pants with black-and-white boots similar to those worn by Wonder Woman. Golden bracelets covered her wrists and a golden lasso hung on a golden belt with a flowing eagle emblazoned on the buckle.

"Who is she?" Beast Boy asked.

"We'll worry about that later," Cyborg replied. "Right now, we gotta fight those things."

"Get them out of the infirmary!" Nightwing ordered as he grabbed one fire creature and disintegrated it with his black flame. Another fire creature shot a stream of flame at him but he dodged it and pulled another winged throwing weapon out of his bracer, hurling it at the creature. The object embedded itself inside the creature's skeleton and detonated, disintegrating it.

Starfire and Blackfire flew at the fire creatures, assaulting them with a barrage of green and purple starbolts. Cyborg shot at them with his dual Sonic Cannons and Beast Boy fought them back in his Werebeast form. Mas y Menos zoomed at a fire creature, vibrating their molecules so quickly that they passed through it. This had the effect of exploding the creature, as they had not perfected their vibration enough to keep from exploding whatever they passed through. Aqualad summoned water from the pool to douse the fire creatures, but that was an ineffective attack due to the fact that the fire that composed those creatures was not earthly fire.

Bumblebee and Speedy shot the creatures with stingers and arrows, respectively, while Red X blew the floor apart underneath some of the creatures, sending them plummeting into the room beneath the infirmary.

"That ought to take care of them," he remarked smugly.

Raven telekinetically blasted several more creatures into the hole Red X had made. The girl grabbed another creature with her lasso and the lasso emitted a backlash of divine lightning that shocked the creature out of existence.

The creatures that had fallen through the hole were about to go back into the infirmary to grab Raven when they were grasped by an invisible force and scattered into the walls.

"You will not touch her," an ominous feminine voice stated.

The fire creatures glared at the source of the voice, a robed figure with a hood concealing her face, and flew at her. The robed figure waved her hand and the creatures were slammed into the walls once again but with even greater force than before.

"Do you think I am playing with you?" she asked.

The creatures surrounded the robed figure and advanced on her all at once, only to be completely dissipated by her psychic attack this time.

In the infirmary, Nightwing shaped his black flame into a whip and lashed the fire creatures with it, dissipating them.

"I've got an idea," he said as he turned to Cyborg. "A Sonic Boom? For old times' sake?"

"You know it," Cyborg answered as he and Nightwing got into position, the latter pulling out an explosive disk from his belt. The two ran to opposite sides and up opposite walls, Cyborg firing his Sonic Cannon and Nightwing throwing his disk once the two were in position. The cannon's sonic blast amplified the force of the explosion of Nightwing's disk and the resulting blast completely wiped out the fire creatures. "Holy crap. I never knew our Sonic Boom could be so powerful."

"I increased the explosive power of my disks when I modified them," Nightwing explained. Then he turned to the girl with the lasso. "Who are you and how did you get here?"

"Evil sought her life," the girl replied. "All I did was prevent it from reaching her. I'm Wonder Girl, by the way."

"Nice meeting you," Nightwing said. "Thanks for saving Raven's life. I'm Nightwing."

"There is someone else here besides us and Wonder Girl," Starfire mentioned.

"You mean the weirdo in the robe?" Blackfire remarked.

"I object to being called a weirdo," the robed figure stated. "My name is Omen."

"That explains where the fire creatures went after I blew that hole in the floor," Red X said. He looked at Omen. "Thanks."

"You're welcome," Omen replied.

"Dark Angel must have sent those creatures after Raven," Bumblebee stated. Catching the slightly puzzled look on Wonder Girl's face, she added, "Well, you did say evil was after Raven's life."

"Yes, but I was unaware of the exact nature of the evil," Wonder Girl answered. "Who is Dark Angel?"

"A very bad woman who summoned the Horsemen of the Apocalypse and is now using them to destroy the world," Starfire replied.

"So how did you get here?" Aqualad asked. "The last we heard, you were helping Wonder Woman in North and South Kasnia."

"I was," Wonder Girl replied. "Then Wonder Woman told me to leave because the League had received intel warning them that Dark Angel's creatures were coming after Raven at this place."

"Ok," Speedy said. Adding with a flirtatious smile, "I suppose you know who I am?"

"I know who you all are," Wonder Girl replied with a friendly smile. "Although no one told me about a Nightwing."

"That's . . . because I went by the name Robin before," Nightwing explained.

"So what made you change your name?" Wonder Girl asked.

"I wanted to start over," Nightwing replied simply.

Omen floated up to the Titans and their allies. "Dark Angel is still after Raven. Her creatures have already found their way to your stronghold. Do you think Dark Angel herself will not be able to enter?"

"There is a way of keeping her out," Nightwing answered.

"Are you going to say that we should start tagging the rooms with spirit wards?" Speedy asked.

"Something like that," Nightwing replied.

"I will aid you," Omen stated.

"In the meantime, we have to stop the Horsemen and Dark Angel," Aqualad added. "People are suffering and dying by the hundreds thanks to them. We should find and stop them."

"Nice idea, Aqualad, but you forgot something," Beast Boy said. "Like, how the hell are we going to stop them?"

"I'll think of something," Aqualad answered.

"You think Shayera would let us borrow her mace?" Blackfire asked. "I mean, if the metal it's made from can really disrupt magic, it'd enable us to really hurt Dark Angel and the Horsemen."

"There's an idea," Nightwing remarked.

"While we're thinking of ways to persuade Shayera to give us her mace, let's cook up a protection spell," Raven suggested.

* * *

The Titans and their allies had drawn a pentagram in the soil of East Titans Island with the Tower in the center.

"Now take your positions," Raven commanded.

Nightwing positioned himself at the fire point of the pentagram, Aqualad positioned himself at the water point of the pentagram, Bumblebee positioned herself at the air point of the pentagram, Beast Boy positioned himself at the earth point of the pentagram, and Raven took the spirit point of the pentagram.

"We unite the five elements of magic," Raven intoned.

"We call forth fire," Nightwing intoned.

"We call forth water," Aqualad intoned.

"We call forth air," Bumblebee chanted.

"We call forth earth," Beast Boy chanted.

"We call forth the Spirit," Raven chanted. "Earth, air, fire, water, and spirit – make this tower a sanctuary, protect it from all that would seek to harm those within. In the name of the Spirit, we invoke your protection!"

The pentagram glowed and the light within rose into a pillar that covered the entirety of East Titans Tower.

"That should do it," Raven said.

"Yes, but if you wish to defeat this Dark Angel and her Horsemen, you will need to do more than simply keep her from your sanctuary," a voice stated from above them. "You will need to fight her. Fortunately, I can help you do that."

"And who the _hell_ are you?" Red X asked.

"Forgive my rudeness," the voice answered as its owner floated down to their level. "I am Zauriel."

* * *

End Notes: What a cliffhanger! In one chapter, I've introduced Wonder Girl, Omen, and Zauriel. You wanna know who he is? Read the next chapter.

I wish to use this space to address a reviewer who was worried that I was making Robin/Nightwing go soft because he wanted to redeem himself. Wanting to redeem yourself is a natural response after realizing how badly you've messed up, especially when one of your friends has been harmed as a result. Only a psychopath wouldn't care about the harm his actions caused and Robin/Nightwing is certainly no psychopath. However, I can assure you all that Nightwing is not going soft by any means. He will still kick ass and take names, but he won't be doing it with the same brutal abandon hinted at in previous chapters.

As for the Starfire/Raven/Blackfire confrontation, that is coming. That will most certainly come. Who will win, though? Or will no one win at all?


	9. Godspeed

"Coil"

Chapter 9: "Godspeed"

Disclaimer: Teen Titans does not belong to me; it belongs to DC Comics and Warner Brothers. The same goes for the Justice League and anyone associated with them.

Author's note: Things just keep getting better and better, don't they? First Wonder Girl, then Omen, and now Zauriel. Who else will appear in this story? I probably won't be able to get all of them and most of the mystical members of the League may not be able to appear, but I'll squeeze in as many as I can.

Now on with the story.

* * *

The Titans and their allies gazed at the being before them, almost unable to believe what their eyes saw.

The being was shaped like a man, dressed in golden armor – breastplate, shoulder pieces, gauntlets, knee pieces, greaves, and sollerets – over silver chain mail. A vaguely eagle-like helm covered his head, the "beak" tapering into a point between his reddish-violet eyes. The armor in and of itself wasn't so unusual in light of the many meta-human heroes that littered the nation. Even the grayish white skin of his face wasn't so unusual, given that the color almost matched Raven's skin. What _was_ unusual was the large feathered wings folded at his back.

Beast Boy was the first one to recover his voice. "Dude! He's an angel!"

It was hard to believe, but the aura of pure goodness that radiated from the winged man would leave one hard-pressed to believe otherwise.

"I am Zauriel," the being stated.

Nightwing introduced himself to Zauriel. "I'm Nightwing."

"Ah, as in the wings of the night," Zauriel mused. "A beautiful name."

"Thanks for the compliment," Nightwing answered, "but what are you doing here?"

"I am here to lend my assistance," Zauriel replied. "The Horsemen's continued presence will drive humanity into its grave if they are not stopped. The same goes for Dark Angel."

"So how are you going to help us?" Wonder Girl asked.

"I will give you a weapon," Zauriel replied. "A weapon that can slay Dark Angel, the Horsemen, and any creatures she may summon to aid her in her schemes."

"Who's going to use it?" Raven asked.

Zauriel turned to Nightwing. "The bearer of the darkness dragon."

"Ok . . ." Nightwing uttered.

"Be careful, Nightwing," Zauriel advised. "The dragon you carry inside you can be your greatest ally or your most terrible adversary. It all depends on how much influence you allow him to exert on you."

"Are you saying that the dragon might push me to do something I don't want to do?" Nightwing asked.

"The dragon _is_ you, Nightwing, sans inhibitions," Zauriel replied. "That is why you have to be careful. He will not push you to do things you do not want to do; he may very well push you to do things that you _want_ to do but are prevented from doing by your morals."

"What else?" Nightwing asked.

"The years spent inside your mortal frame have restrained the dragon's darker powers and caused some of them to atrophy," Zauriel replied. "Tapping into that power may enable you to stop the Horsemen and Dark Angel. Unfortunately, such a thing would require complete surrender of your being to the dragon and that could be disastrous."

"Disastrous how?" Bumblebee asked.

"The dragon is a creature of incarnate darkness," Zauriel replied. "To completely unleash his power would possibly result in the dragon completely taking over Nightwing's body and personality and he could go on a destructive rampage."

"So you're saying . . . that if I ever summoned the dragon's full power, I could lose all control of myself and the dragon would use my body to kill people?" Nightwing deduced.

"Among other things," Zauriel answered. He pulled out a golden-bladed sword with a dragon's-head hand guard and handed it to Nightwing. "This sword will balance the dark power inside you with its own holy power."

"All right," Nightwing said. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Zauriel responded with a smile. He unfolded his wings. "I will return to aid you when you battle Dark Angel and the Horsemen."

The angel flew away.

Wonder Girl let go of the breath she'd been holding in. "That was like seeing one of the gods in person."

"Yes, he was as radiant as X'Hal," Starfire agreed.

* * *

In the dark dimension, Dark Angel watched Zauriel with a hint of consternation on her pale features.

"He could be a danger to my plans," she whispered softly. "He will have to be dealt with."

"Fortunately, I can help you with that," a darkly masculine voice purred.

"Who are you and what are you doing in my domain?" Dark Angel asked.

"Forgive me for not introducing myself," the voice answered. "I am Asmodeus."

Asmodeus stepped out of the shadows, revealing himself as a winged man in black armor over tarnished silver chain mail. A vaguely eagle-like black helmet covered his head with the "beak" tapering to a point just between his crimson eyes.

Dark Angel noticed that Asmodeus's wings were black. "Ah, a fallen angel, I see."

"Yes," Asmodeus confirmed with a smirk. "So is Zauriel, but he is saved from damnation by the fact that he is the Presence's agent on Earth."

"Interesting," Dark Angel mused. "How do you intend to help me deal with Zauriel?"

"I know him," Asmodeus answered. "I used to fight alongside him, before I got bored of the Presence's dominion of Heaven. As a fallen angel, he is no longer immortal. He will not age or die of disease, but if he is injured severely enough . . . he will die just like any other mortal."

"Is the same not true of you?" Dark Angel asked.

Asmodeus simply let out a "hmph."

"Arrogant fallen one, aren't you?" Dark Angel remarked.

"Not only will I help you with Zauriel; I'll help you get rid of those damned Titans as well," Asmodeus declared. A smirk came to his face. "I would like to keep one of them as a pet."

"Which one?" Dark Angel asked. "Either of the Tamaranean sisters? The daughter of Trigon? The little bee?"

"What about the Amazon?" Asmodeus asked. "She has a bottom that I'd like to do things to."

Dark Angel snarled and charged up a lightning-like ball of dark mystical energy. "You will not touch her! She is mine!"

"Ah, I see it's personal between you two," Asmodeus deduced.

"You have no idea," Dark Angel whispered darkly. "No idea at all, Asmodeus."

Asmodeus simply chuckled. "All right, Dark Angel. I'll help you."

"Good," Dark Angel said.

* * *

Back at Titans Tower, Nightwing stood on the rooftop gazing at the dragon-headed sword in his hands and reflecting on what Zauriel had told him.

_Do you really believe what he told you about me?_ the dragon asked.

_He's an angel, an agent of Heaven,_ Nightwing replied. _I think he'd be an authority on the subject._

_Humans in this nation elect presidents every four years,_ the dragon retorted. _Does that mean those presidents are authorities on the subject of running a nation? Besides, he's fallen._

_Fallen?_ Nightwing echoed.

_Yes,_ the dragon confirmed. _Departed from Heaven, either of his own volition or by force._

_Are you trying to say that he might be lying about you?_ Nightwing asked.

_Don't put words in my mouth, mortal,_ the dragon snarled. _I'm not saying that at all. Angels are notorious for complete honesty, unless they think you shouldn't know something, in which case they'll simply not tell you._

_You're not going to make me do something that I'd regret doing, are you?_ Nightwing asked.

_Not if you seriously don't want to do it,_ the dragon replied. _I am not quite the evil demon that Zauriel seems to think I am._

_You think this sword he gave us will help us stop Dark Angel and her Horsemen?_ Nightwing asked.

_It should,_ the dragon replied. _All that holy power hurts like a bad sunburn._

_Tell me about it,_ Nightwing agreed, feeling the mark of the darkness dragon concealed under the sleeve of his suit pulse painfully. _But it's gonna help us save the world, so we gotta put up with it._

_Fine,_ the dragon grumbled.

"Nightwing," Blackfire called from behind him.

Nightwing turned to her. "Blackfire. What brings you here?"

"I wanted to see you," Blackfire replied with a smile as she sauntered to him. "Is it so wrong for me to want to see my boyfriend?"

"No," Nightwing answered with a smile as he embraced the dark-haired Tamaranean. He inhaled the scent of her hair. "I love your scent."

"You smell good, too," Blackfire murmured. She pulled away slightly so she could look at his face. "What made you change your name and costume?"

"I needed . . . to start over," Nightwing replied. "I took the name Robin to honor my parents; it was their nickname for me, but my recent actions dishonored that name, so I chose to start over with a new name. The costume was based on what Starfire told me about my future self, only I tweaked it a little . . . or a lot."

"That explains the armor," Blackfire remarked, "although it kind of reminds me of Slade."

Nightwing sighed. "Slade must have screwed with me too long. I'm starting to model my costumes after him."

"Well, I like the armor," Blackfire stated as she traced the navy bird emblazoned on his chest. She smirked at him. "You worried about something?"

"Just thinking about what Zauriel told me about the darkness dragon," Nightwing replied.

"What, that he could take over your body and go on a slaughter spree if you let him have too much influence?" Blackfire asked.

"Yeah," Nightwing confirmed. "Remember when he said that the dragon wouldn't push me to do anything I genuinely didn't want to do but he would influence me to do the things I wanted to do but shouldn't? The dragon was ready to kill Slade back in Sacrilege . . . because _I_ wanted him dead."

"So?" Blackfire inquired. "Slade's an asshole. He deserves it."

"True, but if I start killing criminals, where do I stop?" Nightwing asked. "Where do I draw the line if I step over it?"

"You know what your problem is, Nightwing?" Blackfire asked seriously.

"What?" Nightwing asked.

"You think too much," Blackfire replied with a silky, almost sultry tone. "You need to just relax and do what you want. What do you think of that, Night? What do you want to do?"

Nightwing shuddered in incipient arousal. "I want to kiss you . . . I want to ravage your lips with mine . . . among other things."

"Then go ahead and do it," Blackfire whispered, her eyes practically glowing with naked desire.

Nightwing kissed her passionately, his teeth grazing her lips almost viciously. Blackfire kissed him back just as fiercely, her teeth harshly grazing his lips. She licked his lips roughly, silently demanding entrance into his mouth. He parted his lips and her tongue pushed itself between them and into the moist warm of his mouth. Nightwing sucked her tongue like it was another part of her body that he wanted to suck. Blackfire moaned softly into the kiss and ran her fingers through his silky black locks.

Unbeknownst to the couple, a pair of emerald eyes watched them with tears forming.

* * *

Raven was meditating in her room when she sensed a great outpouring of emotional distress. She slowly brought herself out of her meditative state, as doing that too quickly would give her the psychic equivalent of the bends. She got off her bed and walked out of her room, following the emotional turmoil she sensed. It didn't escape her notice that the feeling grew stronger as she approached Starfire's room.

"Starfire?" Raven asked. "Is something wrong?"

The only response Raven received was crying. The purple-haired empath opened the door and walked inside Starfire's room, resisting the urge to wretch at all the pink she saw in it.

"Starfire?" Raven repeated as she approached her red-haired friend, who was crying into her pillow.

"Raven!" Starfire exclaimed tearfully as she looked up at the empath. "It was horrible! It was absolutely horrible!"

"What was horrible?" Raven asked.

"Nightwing . . . he was with Blackfire!" Starfire replied. "He was kissing her! And she was kissing him back!"

Raven's eyes widened so slightly that it would have been imperceptible to anyone except Batman or someone trained by him. "What would he be doing with her?" she asked with a calm that she did not genuinely feel.

"He came back from Los Angeles with her!" Starfire exclaimed. "They could have become lovers there!"

"I don't think she's had sex with him yet," Raven said, trying to project a sense of calm.

"But she will!" Starfire yelled. "Now that Blackfire has seduced Nightwing, she will most certainly take his virginity before I ever have the chance to do so!"

Raven would have asked how Starfire could be so certain that Nightwing was still a virgin, but that would only worsen her emotional state so she relented.

_What the hell would Nightwing see in that whore?_ she wondered, her jealousy moving to the forefront of her mind.

_You should kill the slut,_ the voice of Raven's demon side whispered harshly. _Kill her for trying to steal Nightwing from you. Then kill Starfire so she can't have him, either._

_No,_ Raven whispered. _I won't kill Starfire; she's my friend._

_Friend?_ Demon Raven echoed silently. _Who needs friends? Nightwing is yours. You knew him before that alien twit did and you can understand him better than she ever will._ A harsh, rasping chuckle followed. _A real demon would kill anyone that tried to come between her and her desired mate. Oh, I forgot; you're just a miserable half-breed._

_Shut up,_ Raven hissed silently.

"Raven?" Starfire asked softly.

"I'm sorry, Star," Raven replied. "I must have zoned out for a second."

"Why would Nightwing want to be with Blackfire?" Starfire asked timidly.

"I don't know," Raven replied. She placed a comforting hand on Starfire's shoulder and gently stroked the lock of red hair that fell past her ear with the back of her fingers. "Get some rest, Star. I'll see you in the morning."

"All right," Starfire conceded and fell back on her bed, closing her eyes.

* * *

Raven walked out of Starfire's room and stormed up to the rooftop of the Tower, where she found Blackfire by herself.

"Oh, hi, Raven," Blackfire greeted. "Nice seeing you again."

"I wish I could say the same," Raven answered icily. "Now what the hell do you think you're doing with Nightwing?"

"Either you're a better detective than I gave you credit for, or Starfire saw us together and ran to you," Blackfire answered with a sneer. "It doesn't matter, as Starfire isn't the real reason you're confronting me, is it?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Raven snapped.

"Rae, I know a jealous woman when I see one, mainly because I've been the cause of that a lot," Blackfire stated with a smile. "You want him for yourself, don't you? I can understand. Any woman in her right mind would want a piece of my sexy Nightwing."

"I have no idea what he sees in you, you miserable whore," Raven snarled.

That earned her a starbolt-enhanced slap from Blackfire that could have taken her head off if she'd put a little extra force in it.

"_Don't ever call me a whore,_" the former Tamaranean ruler snarled with glowing purple eyes. "It's not my fault I'm not an ice bitch like you."

Raven's eyes glowed white and she lunged at Blackfire with a vicious punch that would have busted her jaw if she'd actually had superhuman strength. Blackfire grabbed Raven's wrist and threw her onto the ground, straddling her to keep her there.

"Get off me," Raven growled, her teeth beginning to elongate into fangs.

"Ooh, are we getting angry?" Blackfire asked. "Frustrated? Should I tell Starfire all about how much you lust after her boy?" She snickered. "I bet you touch yourself at night when you're alone, wishing it was him doing it."

"Shut up," Raven snarled, feeling her nails begin to extend and sharpen. "I don't _lust_ after him; I _love_ him. There's a difference between the two."

It was this scene that Starfire had the luck to stumble upon . . . and hearing Raven's confession transmuted her heartbreak into borderline murderous rage. With a furious scream, she lunged at Blackfire and Raven, knocking them apart and proceeding to savagely beat them both with glowing fists.

"May X'Hal send you both to the fiery pits of _Z'Karr!_" Starfire screamed. A vicious punch to the jaw for Raven preceded the angry redhead's next words. "Raven. You were my friend, the sister I wished I had. And all along you wanted my Nightwing for yourself!" She turned to look at both Raven and Blackfire. "Both of you, conspiring to take him from me!" She unleashed an optic blast that nearly knocked Raven and Blackfire off the roof of the Tower.

"It's not my fault that you're so damn sweet that it could make teeth rot!" Blackfire yelled. "Maybe if you weren't such a pathetic weakling, Nightwing would have chosen _you!_" She blasted Starfire with her own optic blast, knocking the redhead down to the ground.

"_H'tal bkt'r!_" Starfire yelled as she blasted Blackfire with a massive double-fisted starbolt. Blackfire countered with her own double-fisted starbolt and the impact of the two energy bursts shook the island on which East Titans Tower stood.

* * *

"What the hell's going on up there?" Beast Boy asked.

"Is it Dark Angel's demon freaks?" Bumblebee asked.

Nightwing's face contorted in a mask of rage. "Not quite." Without saying anything more to his team, he stormed out of the common room of the Tower.

* * *

When he reached the rooftop, he saw Blackfire, Starfire, and Raven in the middle of a three-way fight, Blackfire attacking both Starfire and Raven, Starfire attacking both Blackfire and Raven, and Raven attacking Blackfire while defending herself against Starfire.

"Stop . . . now," he ordered, his voice preternaturally soft but carrying an intensity that forced them to stop so they could listen to him.

"Nightwing!" Starfire exclaimed. "How could you fall for this . . . what is the word you humans have for people such as her . . . bitch?"

"That's also what I'd like to know," Raven agreed coldly.

"So that's what this is about?" Nightwing deduced with a cold tone and expression. "You're angry because I chose Blackfire over you two?"

"I love you, Nightwing!" Starfire yelled. "What is wrong with me that you could not love me back?"

Raven said nothing but the anger and heartbreak in her expression conveyed all that she needed to.

Blackfire just had a smug expression on her face.

"Let's get one thing straight first," Nightwing stated, each word wielded like a sharp dagger. "Nobody . . . and I mean _nobody_ . . . has the power to dictate who I should love." A cold, ruined version of his usual smile formed on his face. "Now that that's out of the way, I have a few confessions to make.

"Starfire, I care for you deeply. You give me a reason to smile when I don't think I have one and you help me to be freer with my emotions like you are.

"Raven, you are like the wise older sister I never had. You can understand the darker side of my nature in ways that most people can't and you're far more mature than most people your age, even me.

"Blackfire, you are the one I love. As much as I care for Starfire and Raven, it is you that has captured my heart. You are free with your emotions like Starfire and yet you're the most mature woman I've ever met. You understand and accept the darkness within me, for you have it as well. I hate to sound sappy . . . but you complete me."

Blackfire blushed. "I've never had somebody tell me things like that and mean them before."

"I do mean them," Nightwing answered as he reached out to hold her hand. "I love you, Blackfire."

"I love you, Nightwing," Blackfire responded as she pulled him into a gentle, loving kiss.

Starfire and Raven watched with dejected expressions, as they realized that both Nightwing and Blackfire were sincere in their love.

"I suppose we'll leave you two be," Raven said.

Nightwing broke the kiss and gazed at the three young women. "Honestly, I'm a little hurt that you couldn't be mature about this whole thing and had to squabble over me like children."

"We're . . . sorry," Raven uttered.

"I suppose I can accept that," Nightwing remarked. "I just hope no one declares a group hug. I'm not much of a hugging kind of person."

"Oh, don't worry," Blackfire purred. "I can show you much more pleasant methods of physical contact."

"Sister, that is . . . too much information," Starfire uttered.

"We'd better get back inside," Nightwing suggested. "The others heard your little catfight and they're probably worried."

At that moment, they heard a digitized snicker. Turning to the source of that snicker, they saw Red X standing there with his arms crossed over his lean chest.

"Man, Nightwing, how do you do it?" he asked.

"Do what, X?" Nightwing asked.

"Attract women left and right," Red X replied. "Damn, I have got to learn your secret."

"I don't actually have a secret," Nightwing replied. "It's just my natural charm."

"Sure, be that way," Red X grumbled good-naturedly. "Pretty much everyone's wigging out about the fight up here, 'cept that creepy Omen chick."

"Heh," Nightwing remarked as he, Red X, and the girls went back into the Tower.

* * *

"Man, what happened up there?" Speedy asked. "It sounded like World War Three."

"Don't joke like that," Bumblebee said. "If we don't stop Dark Angel and her Horsemen, there really _will_ be World War Three."

"You're no fun," Speedy grumbled.

"Don't worry," Nightwing replied. "It was nothing serious, just blowing off steam."

"You sure about that?" Cyborg asked skeptically.

"Yeah, I'm sure, Cyborg," Nightwing replied.

"If you say so, Nightwing," Cyborg conceded in a tone that suggested that he didn't actually believe him but wasn't willing to push the issue.

"By the way, I have a confession to make," Nightwing stated. "Blackfire and I are a couple."

Everyone gaped at him and Blackfire with astonishment.

"Relax," Blackfire said. "It's not like he's put a ring on my finger . . . yet."

"Wingster, I'm seriously torn here," Speedy remarked. "On the one hand, this means Starfire's available and you're finally going to get some. On the other hand, I have the strong urge to ask you what the hell you've been smoking."

"I'm completely sober, Speedy," Nightwing answered.

"I'm with Speedy," Cyborg replied. "Dating criminals doesn't work out. I should know."

"Yeah, because of your Romeo & Juliet-style romance with Jinx," Nightwing grumbled. "It's not like I'm completely oblivious to what my (former) teammates get up to."

"Aw, damn, don't tell me you've got spy satellites watching us!" Beast Boy exclaimed.

"No, I'm not Batman," Nightwing denied.

"I don't know you very well, so I can't judge you," Wonder Girl said.

"Thank you," Nightwing said before Wonder Girl continued.

"But I think it's a bad idea to date a criminal unless either of you is willing to change your ways."

"Thanks for the advice," Nightwing stated.

"I think I speak for everyone here when I say that this relationship is a bad idea," Bumblebee said. "However, I can't force you to stop dating Blackfire. You're not part of my team or any Titans team for that matter, so you're outside of my jurisdiction as the law enforcement officers would say. 'Sides, it's your life and you might as well do with it what you want."

"I'm glad you all have such faith in my judgment," Nightwing drawled. "But we have more important things to worry about than my love life. Dark Angel and her Horsemen are still out there and they're causing all kinds of trouble." He turned to Raven and Omen. "Either of you think you can stop Pestilence?"

"Probably," Raven replied.

"Good," Nightwing answered. "We're visiting the local hospital tonight."

* * *

End Notes: I figured I should just end it there. Anyway, people, you finally got the Starfire/Raven/Blackfire confrontation you've been demanding for the last few chapters. Did I handle it well? Is anyone out of character? If you think they are, I'll explain.

Raven called Blackfire a whore. I've known enough women in my lifetime to know that they don't like being called whores and Blackfire has a temper and a lot of pride, so it's foreseeable that she'd smack Raven for that. Starfire was emotionally distraught because she'd seen the man she loved kissing another woman, said other woman being her older sister who did all kinds of nasty things to her. Finding out that her best friend was in love with him as well made her feel betrayed and that's why she lashed out at Raven as well. Raven's demon side was coming out during the fight in case you couldn't tell and that was why she was attacking Blackfire. However, she defended herself from Starfire because she was her friend and she didn't really want to harm her.

Zauriel and Asmodeus are fallen angels in the Justice League comics. However, Zauriel is good, having fallen because of his love for a mortal woman, and Asmodeus is evil, having fallen because of his own power lust.

The reason I have come to love the Robin/Blackfire pairing is that Blackfire has both of the better traits of Starfire and Raven when it comes to a relationship with Robin. She's emotionally free like Starfire, so she can help him express himself better emotionally. She's also mature like Raven and since Robin is very mature for his age due to his experiences in Gotham, she's good for him from that angle. Then there's the fact that Blackfire has that sexy, sensual Catwoman vibe and those of us who've read the comics know how much Robin (Richard Grayson/Nightwing) takes after his father.

That's all out of me. You're free to tell me how much you liked or disliked this chapter.


	10. Rise the Demon

"Coil"

Chapter 10: "Rise the Demon"

Disclaimer: How many times must I say this? Teen Titans does not belong to me; it belongs to DC Comics and Warner Brothers. The same goes for anyone who appears in here that has already appeared in a DC property, whether it is comics, animated, or live action.

Author's notes: Man, am I on a roll. I'm churning out these chapters like I've tapped into the Speed Force! In case you don't know what the Speed Force is, I'll tell you: It's the extra-dimensional energy force that gives all super-speedsters their power. In the comics, Wally West's version of the Flash is possibly the fastest speedster in existence because he mainlines the Force and therefore can't be cut off from it unlike other speedsters.

Robin's costume while he was in L.A. was based on the character redesign done by a deviantART member called Turin-the-forsaken. The same goes for Nightwing's costume. Using those designs was my way of honoring his ass-kicking costume designs. That guy should work for DC Comics.

If you're wondering if any other DC mystical heroes will be making appearances, I happened to drop a hint in the title. Anyway, let's continue this story, shall we?

* * *

Nightwing, Raven, and Omen went to the local hospital. When they did, they saw an endless amount of sick people being carried into the hospital by paramedics.

"Titans, right?" a woman in a doctor's coat surmised.

"Yeah," Nightwing replied, "sort of."

The doctor looked at Nightwing and Omen. "I haven't seen you two around. I guess the Titans must have started recruiting recently."

Nightwing chuckled softly. "Yeah, you could say that."

"If you're here about all the sick people in here, I'm afraid we have no idea how to cure them," the doctor said. "Whatever it is they've got, we have no record of it."

"That's because it's not an earthborn sickness," Omen answered.

"You mean it's something from outer space?" the doctor asked.

"No, it's not of this world at all," Omen replied.

Raven levitated into a meditative position and closed her eyes.

"What is she doing?" the doctor asked.

"If we're lucky, curing all of these people," Nightwing replied.

"Azarath . . . Metrion . . . Zinthos . . ." Raven chanted, her eyes opening as glowing white orbs upon the last word. A raven-shaped black aura left her body and flew through the hospital, briefly merging with each person it crossed on its path before moving on. After the aura was finished, it returned to Raven, who gasped for air. "I feel . . . weak."

Nightwing supported Raven as she moved back into a standing position. "It's ok, I've got you."

"Thanks," Raven said.

"It's a miracle!" a nurse shouted.

"A miracle?" a male doctor asked as he walked up to the nurse.

"Yes!" the nurse exclaimed. "These patients . . . their vitals . . . they're all as healthy as twenty-year-olds!"

The female doctor checked on several of the patients, verifying the nurse's excited declaration. "She's right. They're very healthy. It's almost as though they were never ill at all."

"Raven, you did it," Nightwing said with a smile. "You gonna be ok?"

"Yeah, it'll take me a while to recover, but I think I'll be ok," Raven replied.

Omen stood as still as a board for a few seconds before returning to her normal posture.

"What's wrong, Omen?" Raven asked.

"This hospital . . . will be attacked very shortly," Omen replied.

Approximately five seconds later, the revolving front door of the hospital was blown apart by an explosion. The person standing in the center of the explosion was a pale woman dressed in black with crimson eyes, a black circle covering the right side of her face to suggest a lunar eclipse, and fangs.

"Who the hell are you?" Nightwing asked.

"Call me Eclipso," the woman replied before sending a wave of rippling force at the three Titans, who blocked the force wave by combining their powers into a shield.

"Are you one of Dark Angel's lackeys?" Omen asked.

Eclipso snickered. "Lackey. What a derogatory word. I prefer assistant."

She flew at the three Titans and began to fight them hand to hand. She aimed a high kick at Nightwing's head but the masked warrior blocked the kick with his armored forearm and retaliated with a palm strike to her chest. This did not seem to deter Eclipso in the least, as she dropped and swung her leg out to knock his feet out from under him. Nightwing jumped over her leg and flipped behind her, subsequently aiming a nerve strike at her neck. Unfortunately for him, Eclipso seemed to anticipate that move and grabbed his wrist, throwing him into and through the wall with inhuman strength.

"Nightwing!" Raven shouted, throwing a blast of shadowy telekinetic force at Eclipso, who dissipated the blast as soon as it touched her. "What are you?"

"Your worst nightmare," Eclipso replied before seemingly vanishing into thin air. She reappeared right in front of Raven, striking her in the chest with her palm and sending her flying before she could right herself in midair. Raven hovered before Eclipso, delivering kick after kick to the pale woman and spinning to land the final kick to the side of her head. Eclipso just grabbed Raven's ankle and twisted it until it broke, causing her to drop to the floor in pain.

Omen shot a telekinetic blast at Eclipso, who merely blocked it with a wave of her hand. "Is that all you've got?" Eclipso asked. "Pathetic."

Omen snarled and kicked Eclipso, revealing a long and shapely leg in the process. Eclipso was about to break Omen's leg when a ball of unholy flame struck her and sent her flying into a wall.

"Who did that?" Eclipso asked angrily.

"That would be me, wench," a deep, rough voice growled.

Eclipso got up and faced her attacker, a muscular, yellow-skinned, red-eyed demon dressed in red with a black cape. He had no hair at all, ears shaped almost like bat's wings, horns on his head, fangs in his mouth, and claws on his fingers.

"Etrigan!" she snarled.

Raven looked up and saw the demon. "Etrigan . . ." she echoed slightly fearfully. She had heard the legends told to her by the Azarathian monks and priestesses about Etrigan, the common thread being that he was the most ferocious demon in all of hell. If he was here now, then that meant real trouble.

"Yes, that is my name," the demon sneered. "Now prepare for hell, foul spirit!"

"You have no right to call anyone a foul spirit, demon," Eclipso snarled as she blasted Etrigan with another rippling wave of force. For his part, Etrigan simply withstood the wave without moving even a millimeter.

"You are pathetic," Etrigan declared before unleashing a double-fisted blast of hellfire upon Eclipso, slamming her into a wall. The demon did not let up in his assault, continuing to pummel her with the flames of hell. "So how long can you bear this before you are forced to move on to another host in order to escape your approaching death?"

He noticed that Eclipso was no longer speaking. On second glance, he noticed that her eyes were no longer red but hazel and that the pale skin, fangs, and black circle were gone.

Oh, well. He'd still torture the goddamned human.

_Stop,_ the voice of his human alter ego Jason Blood whispered.

_Why should I?_ Etrigan asked.

_Because it's not your mission to torture an innocent human,_ Jason insisted.

Etrigan snarled and dissipated his hellfire. "Depart from this place, human, before I change my mind about sparing you."

The woman who had been possessed by Eclipso fled from the hospital.

"If Eclipso is no longer in that human . . ." the demon mumbled. His musings were interrupted by a hellish battle cry that preceded a vicious spin kick that sent him into a wall. Etrigan got up and found himself standing before Nightwing, whose skin had turned deathly white and whose face was marked by a black circle on the right side. When Nightwing smiled, he exposed fangs.

"Hello, Etrigan," Nightwing greeted with an unholy lilt in his voice.

"Eclipso," Etrigan snarled.

"Damn straight," Eclipso confirmed with a cruel grin.

"Let him go!" Raven yelled, struggling to her feet despite the pain in her ankle.

"Why should I?" Eclipso asked. "I rather like this body. Strong, agile, powerful – a hell of a lot better than that woman I previously inhabited."

Raven let loose with a blast of dark psychokinetic power, which Eclipso sliced through with an unnaturally glowing right arm.

"Pathetic," Eclipso sneered. "I expected more from you, my sweet Raven."

Raven gritted her teeth in rage at Eclipso's appropriation of the affectionate name given to her by the dragon Malchior, who had disguised himself as the noble wizard in one of her books in order to gain her trust and affection so that he could be free.

"I am not your sweet Raven," she declared before hurling whatever objects she could get her psychic "hands" on at Eclipso, who leaped, jumped, and flipped out of the way of those objects.

"Come on, I know you can do better," Eclipso taunted.

Raven screamed in fury and enveloped Eclipso in her dark aura, using it to throw him into a wall. This didn't seem to faze Eclipso in the least, as he just got up and cracked his neck back into place, having nearly broken it when Raven slammed him into the wall.

"Foolish half-demon!" Etrigan snarled at Raven. "Stop holding back! He may bear the face of the one you love, but the creature behind that face is a foul monstrosity that should be sent back to the hell that spawned him!"

"I hate to say this, but the demon is correct," Omen stated. "For Nightwing's sake, Eclipso must be taken down . . . hard."

A ball of flame formed in Omen's hand and she threw it at Eclipso, who blocked with a ball of black flame. Eclipso pulled back one of the blue strips on Nightwing's bracer and then pulled out a thin black strip that tapered at both ends like a bird's body. Curved blue-edged black "wings" popped out of the strip.

"Heh, so this is his new and improved Birdarang," Eclipso remarked. "I like the shape." He poked the points of the wings, the tail, and the head and stroked the edges of the wings. "Ah, so this boy is quite the craftsman when he wants to be. A beautiful weapon indeed."

"Quit talking and fight," Raven growled.

"Why?" Eclipso asked. "It's already clear that you're no match for me, so why not use this time to run for your pathetic lives?"

Raven cried out in rage and charged at Eclipso, her hands glowing with dark power that shaped itself into claws. Eclipso merely caught Raven's wrist and was about to slash her throat with the Birdarang when his arm stopped just millimeters away from her throat.

"What's happening?" Eclipso asked.

"It appears your control over Nightwing's body isn't as total as you would like," Raven replied.

Eclipso let go of Raven and collapsed, writhing on the ground and screaming in agony.

"Get out," Nightwing's voice snarled. "Get out of my body!"

"No!" Eclipso yelled. "I'm staying!"

A third, darker voice chipped in. "_No . . . you're not._"

Eclipso screamed as he was forced out of Nightwing's body by both Nightwing and the darkness dragon. The dark entity manifested as a red-eyed shadow that dematerialized.

"What was that?" Omen asked.

Nightwing went over to Raven. "You shouldn't have done that. Your ankle's going to get worse now."

"It's ok," Raven replied. "I just . . . had to stop that thing from using you to hurt us."

Nightwing picked up Raven in such a way that he was holding her like a bridegroom held his bride on their wedding day. "Let's get back to the Tower."

* * *

The three Titans and Etrigan returned to the Tower.

"Whoa!" Beast Boy exclaimed when he saw Etrigan. "Since when did we let demons into the Tower?"

"This one happens to be an old friend of mine," Nightwing replied. "Titans, say hello to Etrigan."

"He resembles Thlo'kass, the legendary terror of the planet Xyntoz," Starfire remarked.

"I said it before and I'll say it again: You really don't keep good company, Nightwing," Speedy remarked.

Nightwing's only response was, "Gone, gone O demon! Take once more the form of man!"

The chant caused a marked transformation in Etrigan, replacing a squat, muscular, yellow-skinned demon with a tall, well-dressed man with red-highlighted black hair that had a lightning-like white stripe in it. An aura of nobility emanated from the man, unlike the aura of dread that emanated from Etrigan.

"Greetings," the man said. "I am Jason Blood."

"Any relation to Brother Blood?" Cyborg asked.

"No, I would not wish to have anything to do with such a man," Jason replied.

"So how did you do that?" Bumblebee asked.

"Do what?" Jason asked almost innocently.

"Transform into a man when you were a demon," Bumblebee clarified.

"It is said that demons can take on human form," Jason answered.

"So is that what you are?" Aqualad asked. "A demon in human guise?"

"No," Omen responded. "I sense . . . that the demon is an entity whose spirit is entwined with that of Jason."

"You would be correct, miss," Jason confirmed. "Etrigan and I are bonded for eternity and the nature of the bond is that he takes my place in this plane of existence when I recite a certain rhyme. The rhyme Nightwing recited is the rhyme that enables me to reclaim my place in this plane after switching with Etrigan."

"Ok," Speedy remarked.

Blackfire looked at Nightwing, who was still carrying Raven in the bridal style.

"Did you two elope and not tell me?" she asked.

"No, Raven's hurt," Nightwing replied. "We ran into a demonic entity called Eclipso at the hospital. He – she at the time – broke her ankle."

"What do you mean, _she_ at the time?" Wonder Girl asked.

"Eclipso is an evil god of vengeance that can possess others," Jason explained. "He was inside a woman when he first attacked us. After Etrigan prevented him from doing any further harm, he escaped from the woman and used Nightwing's body to attack us. Fortunately, Nightwing had a strong enough will to eject Eclipso from his body." He looked at Raven. "Mind if I take a look at that?"

"Sure," Raven replied.

Jason gently touched her broken ankle and chanted something in Latin. His hands glowed a bright pink and that glow passed into Raven's ankle, healing the fractured bone.

"How do you feel?" he asked.

Nightwing let Raven down and she stood on both feet. "I feel great. Thank you."

"You're welcome," Jason answered.

"Why did Eclipso attack you?" Starfire asked.

"He, she, it, whatever, is working for Dark Angel," Nightwing replied. "She must have known Raven was going to cure everyone in the hospital that was affected by Pestilence and that she'd be weaker after that."

"How are we doing on the Famine front?" Bumblebee asked.

"I just got in contact with Kid Flash," Aqualad replied. "He and the Flash, along with Superman, are still acting as super-speed food couriers. For the most part, it seems to be working."

"We still have to stop Death," Cyborg said. "It's not as though any of us have the power to bring people back to life."

"And War," Nightwing added. "Wonder Woman and Captain Marvel are two of the strongest forces for peace, but I'm not sure how long they can last with humans determined to kill each other off. Not to mention that Ares is probably fighting them both to prevent them from preventing the humans from killing each other off."

"I've had enough of this," Wonder Girl spoke up. "It's time we took the fight to Dark Angel instead of waiting for her and her demons to attack us."

"Wonder Girl is right," Starfire agreed. "If we continue to battle defensively, we will eventually be beaten."

"I hate to admit it, but I'm with Starfire," Blackfire piped up.

"No one's denying that, but the problem is finding her," Nightwing stated. "Fate's the League's top sorcerer and he can't even find Dark Angel."

"That's because she is outside this plane of existence," Raven supplied.

"So how do we find her?" Speedy asked.

Nightwing reached into a pouch on his belt and removed the four Apocalyptic Gems from it.

"How long have you had those?" Raven asked irritably.

"I swiped them shortly after Dark Angel released the Horsemen," Nightwing replied. "I was hoping there'd be some residual energy left so we could find the Horsemen."

"Is there?" Omen asked.

"Yeah," Nightwing replied. He gave the Gem of White Famine to Raven, the Gem of Red War to Bumblebee, and the Gem of Blue Pestilence to Aqualad. "We're going to split into four teams and each team is going to find and fight a Horseman. I'm taking Red X, Blackfire, and Starfire with me. Raven, you'll take Beast Boy and Mas y Menos with you. Bumblebee, you're going with Speedy, Cyborg, and Omen. Aqualad, you're with Wonder Girl and Jason."

"I'd ask you when you decided you could give orders, but you make sense," Cyborg stated.

"Let's go," Nightwing stated.

The Titans and their allies got into four-person jets in the teams assigned by Nightwing.

* * *

"So . . . you think that sword is going to work?" Red X asked.

"It should," Nightwing replied as he piloted the jet. He gazed at the Gem of Black Death as its rune pulsed. "We're getting close."

When Nightwing reached the destination the Gem of Black Death had pointed out to him, he saw a Los Angeles neighborhood full of dead bodies. He landed and exited the jet, Red X, Blackfire, and Starfire following.

"Death was here," Nightwing mumbled.

"That's one big freaking duh," Red X remarked, deftly concealing his horror at seeing so many dead bodies.

"This . . . this is awful . . ." Starfire uttered, her voice betraying her shock, horror, and dismay. "All of these people . . ."

Blackfire was speechless.

"Death!" Nightwing yelled. "Show your face!"

The skull-helmed Horseman materialized on his pale horse.

Nightwing drew the dragon-headed golden blade Zauriel had given him. The dragon's head snapped open, releasing a small cyclone of golden wind that left behind brighter gold metal in the sword's blade.

Death drew his sword as well.

The two charged at each other, slashing and striking with their swords. Death ducked under Nightwing's swing and slashed him vertically as he rose up, tearing through the outer layer of leather and the inner layer of modern chain mail to cut the more vulnerable flesh beneath. Nightwing retaliated by slicing through Death's armor with his golden sword, eliciting a cry of pain from the deadly Horseman. Death and Nightwing charged at each other, slashing at the same time as they passed each other.

There was a brief moment of inaction and afterward . . . blood burst out of another wound on Nightwing's body and black liquid burst out of another wound on Death's body.

Red X, Starfire, and Blackfire gasped in horror as they saw the bloody wounds on Nightwing's body.

"How the hell is he not dead?" Red X asked.

Nightwing chuckled, but it was a low, inhuman chuckle.

Death turned to look at him. "And what, mortal, is so funny?" he asked in a cold, metallic voice.

"Nothing . . ." Nightwing replied in that same inhuman voice. "I was just wondering . . . how your head would look mounted on my wall."

"What is wrong with him?" Starfire asked.

"Watch, little sister," Blackfire answered. "This is where it gets good."

Nightwing dropped the golden sword and sped toward Death, knocking him down with a vicious right cross. Death rose to his feet and slashed at Nightwing with his sword but Nightwing caught the blade between his hands . . . and shattered it with almost no effort. Angered at the destruction of his sword, Death aimed a karate chop for the young fighter's throat, but Nightwing grabbed his wrist and flipped while still holding onto him, dropping him to the ground upon landing. An unnaturally quick scissor flip sent Nightwing's heel impacting against Death's helm and he followed up with a kick to the Horseman's wounded chest.

"Holy crap," Red X remarked. "He's good."

Blackfire just smiled while Starfire looked on speechlessly.

Death found himself on the defensive and wondering just who this boy who dared harm him was.

Nightwing chuckled as the wounds he had suffered at Death's hands stopped bleeding and sealed shut. "What's the matter? Not having fun?"

Death and Nightwing began to fight at unholy speeds, appearing to Red X, Starfire, and Blackfire as blurs that would occasionally impact against each other.

"What are you?" Death asked after being viciously slammed to the ground. "You're not human, are you?"

"Correct," Nightwing replied with a fanged smirk as he pulled out the Gem of Black Death. "Now . . . go back to Lucifer. I'm sure he needs you for the big one."

The rune on the black gem glowed and that glow engulfed Death, removing him from the mortal plane by painful force.

"One down," Nightwing remarked.

"Congratulations," a familiar purring voice stated. "I was almost afraid I'd have to intervene on your behalf."

"Slade," Nightwing growled, his voice still inhuman.

"Robin," Slade greeted as he stepped out of the shadows. "Or do I call you Nightwing now? No . . . I know your real identity . . . Dragon of the Shadowlands."

"Dragon of the Shadowlands?" Starfire echoed. "You mean it is the darkness dragon that defeated Death?"

"Yes," Slade confirmed.

The dragon smirked with Nightwing's lips. "You are a clever bastard, aren't you, Slade?"

"I did my research," Slade answered. "I know your home is the Shadowlands. I know you went on a destructive rampage during the era of sorcery prior to Camelot's fall, claiming many human lives. I know that it was Merlin who performed the time-twisting spell that wrenched your soul from your draconic body and sealed it within that of Nightwing."

"Funny that you know so much about me but I know so little about you," the dragon retorted.

"What do you want, Slade?" Starfire asked.

"Revenge," Slade replied. "Dark Angel used me to acquire the gems for herself. I do not like being used, so I'm going to make that witch suffer."

"How?" Blackfire asked. "You can't even find her."

"But I can . . ." Slade contradicted. "It involves a form of scrying that only a few mages have access to."

"And which mage did you have to strong-arm to learn that form of scrying?" Red X asked.

"A rather pleasant young lady who prefers to be called Lust," Slade replied. "Foxy little minx."

"The idea of you with a sex life is more disturbing than those whacked-out yaoi fangirl sites run by people who think that Nightwing and Speedy ought to be together," Red X stated with a shudder.

"There's a site like that?" the dragon asked in horror. He sighed. "Human females! What is wrong with them that they would think such a thing?"

"I don't know," Red X replied.

"Back to the subject," Slade interrupted. "The point is that Lust showed me how to scry for magical beings or magic users in other dimensions. I'm going to help you find Dark Angel and then she's going to suffer agonies that would put all nine circles of hell to shame."

"Sure . . ." the dragon answered. "Fine, you can 'chill' with us as the young humans say nowadays, but try anything funny and I'll tear your spine out and beat you to death with it."

"I'd like to see you try," Slade challenged.

The dragon leaned over to Red X and whispered, "By the way, don't tell Starfire, but there's a site dedicated to her imagined romance with Raven."

"I've been there," Red X whispered back with a snicker.

"What are you two whispering about?" Starfire asked.

"Nothing, cutie," Red X replied. "Just strategizing."

"What is your strategy?" Starfire asked.

"Round up the others and kick Dark Angel's lily ass," Red X replied.

"Yes, but first we must scry for her location," Slade added.

"Yeah, lead the way, you bastard," the dragon snarled.

* * *

End Notes: Ah, I better just end it here before it starts getting bad. I don't really feel up to writing this chapter any further, especially since I wrote pretty much all the good stuff yesterday.

In case no one ever watched that episode of Batman titled "The Demon Within" or that episode of Justice League titled "A Knight of Shadows," I'll explain Etrigan to you. Etrigan was a demon who served the wizard Merlin during the days of Camelot. When Camelot fell because Jason Blood, a knight at the time, allowed himself to be seduced by a witch named Morgan Le Fay, Merlin punished him by binding him to Etrigan for all eternity. In the modern era, Jason and Etrigan have been known to lend their assistance to Batman when it comes to the supernatural.

Eclipso is an evil god of vengeance who was once the representation of the Wrath of God. As shown in this chapter, he can possess other people and amplify their inner darkness to such an extent that he can use it to control their bodies. The name "Eclipso" is a reference to his ability to "eclipse" the personality of the person he is possessing with his own.

As you've been demanding from me for some time, the darkness dragon has come out in true badass fashion, vanquishing a Horseman of the Apocalypse. However, what does this alliance with Slade spell for him, Red X, Blackfire, and Starfire? And will the other teams fare as well as the dragon did?


	11. Emerald and Jet

"Coil"

Chapter 11: "Emerald and Jet"

Disclaimer: Teen Titans doesn't belong to me and neither does anything else from DC Comics, got me? Good.

Author's note: For those of you who knew who Eclipso was long before his appearance in the last chapter, you're probably wondering where the hell the Spectre is. Don't worry; he'll show up somewhere down along the line . . . and Zauriel's going to pop his angelic head in, too. Also, you'll be seeing a certain pair of twins . . . and maybe a Green Lantern, but not the one most people are familiar with.

Now let's go.

* * *

The dragon, Red X, Starfire, and Blackfire followed Slade down a dark corridor.

"This where you live?" Red X asked.

"No, this is where I work," Slade replied. "Do you think I'd take you to my home for tea and crumpets?"

"Good point," Red X muttered.

"What is this scrying?" Starfire asked.

"It's something done by witches and warlocks when they want to find someone," Blackfire explained. "They take a special crystal pendant and spin it over a map. The circle narrows and narrows until the crystal zeroes in on the location of the person the witch wants to find."

"Very astute," Slade murmured. "You would have made a fine apprentice, much better than Nightwing or Terra."

"Huh?" Blackfire uttered. "Nightwing actually worked for you?"

"I had to resort to some . . . extreme measures to persuade him to join me," Slade answered cryptically.

"You poisoned his friends with nanoscopic probes and threatened to kill them from the inside out if he didn't join you," the dragon snarled.

"That's sick," Red X remarked, "and not in the good way."

"What can I say?" Slade asked. "I've found over the years that it's a lot easier to convince people to do what I want them to do when I have a bargaining chip that's precious to them."

The dragon let out an inhuman growl.

Starfire shivered in fear upon hearing that growl, as it did not sound like any noise that her erstwhile love would make, even at his angriest. No, this was the sound that would come from a demon's throat.

Blackfire shivered as well but for a different reason.

"Sister?" Starfire asked.

"I don't get what you're so scared of him for," Blackfire answered. "He sounds more like a gentle lion."

"Now I _know_ you're not mocking me, Blackfire," the dragon growled.

Blackfire chuckled. "Your voice isn't that scary; my sister's just a wimp. To me, it sounds . . . very sexy."

"Oh, really?" the dragon asked with a smirk. "Perhaps I can make other sexy noises for you when we're alone together."

"Do you two mind?" Red X asked. "I'm suffering a major case of TMI here!"

"For once, I would have to agree with the petty thief," Slade stated.

"Hey, I'm not a petty thief!" Red X protested. "I've stolen stuff worth millions!"

"Chump change compared to the stakes I play for," Slade sneered.

"Oh, I forgot; you're Mr. World Domination," Red X retorted. "All you big-time villains wanna rule the whole frigging world. Any of you ready for the responsibility of holding an entire planet together?"

"Who said I wanted ownership of the world?" Slade asked.

"Then what do you want?" Red X asked. "What's with all the espionage, sabotage, and assassination?"

"Something you couldn't even begin to fathom," Slade answered, "but we'll get to that once we stop Dark Angel and her Horsemen from destroying the world." He stopped in front of a brick wall and pushed one of the bricks, causing a portion of wall to slide back and thus reveal a faintly lit room. Slade walked in and the four "heroes" followed.

"Hello, Slade," a sultry feminine voice greeted.

"Hello, Lust," Slade greeted back.

The "heroic" foursome gazed at Lust, who was a rather pale young woman in a strapless green-black dress that exposed some cleavage and clung to all of her curves. Her arms were encased in green-black gloves and her legs were covered in matching thigh-high boots. She gazed at the four with glinting purple-silver eyes.

"So you've finally made some friends," Lust purred.

"We ain't this son of a bitch's friends," Red X grumbled.

"Of course you aren't," Lust spoke. "But you've obviously chosen to ally yourself with him."

"Only because he has resources that we don't," the dragon growled.

"Ah, you are quite a beautiful dragon, aren't you?" Lust complimented. "And even better that you are attached to such a beautiful man. I wonder . . . what color are your eyes?"

"Don't know," the dragon replied. "I haven't seen my eyes in years."

"Then what color are his eyes?" Lust asked.

"That's for Blackfire only to see," the dragon replied.

Blackfire felt more secure at that moment in Nightwing's and the dragon's feelings for her. The fact that he would only show her his eyes and not even tell another woman what color his eyes were gratified her deeply.

"Must you flirt with him when the world is at stake?" Slade asked.

"Aw, you're no fun, Slade," Lust pouted.

"I'll make it up to you later," Slade promised with a purr in his tone.

"TMI, for Christ's sake," Red X grumbled.

"What is this TMI?" Starfire asked.

"It's an Earth acronym that stands for 'too much information,'" Red X replied.

"Oh," Starfire uttered. "I do not understand why you are so embarrassed by this, Red X. Is sexuality not normal in most species?"

"Uh, yeah, but . . ." Red X uttered.

"And have you not made it clear by the way you look at me and the way you speak to me that you would wish to do a number of sexual activities with me?" Starfire asked.

Blackfire chuckled. "It's about time."

"It's hard not to wish to do all that stuff with you when I find you so beautiful," Red X admitted.

"Was that really so hard?" Starfire asked.

"Please don't use that word around me right now," Red X pleaded.

"Did I say something wrong?" Starfire asked.

"Damn it, what is wrong with you all?" Slade asked in exasperation.

"What do you expect, Slade?" Lust asked. "They're all horny teenagers, and Blackfire's a horny twenty-year-old."

Slade sighed. "Let's just get this over with."

Lust walked over to an opaque crystal globe and removed the scrying pendant from around her swanlike neck. She waved the pendant around the globe and soon enough, the pendant began to spin in ever-decreasing circles. After ten or so minutes, it stopped at a certain spot on the globe, a particularly dark spot.

"The Shadowlands," Lust murmured.

"What the hell are the Shadowlands?" Blackfire asked.

"The realm that is the source of all darkness-based power," Lust replied. "The realm that is home to countless demons that derive their power from darkness. The realm that was once home to the dragon that was bound to your lover."

"That's where Dark Angel is?" Red X asked. "The Shadowlands?"

"Yes, and she is using the dark energy from that dimension to strengthen herself," Lust answered.

"So we know where she is," Blackfire stated. "Let's go after her."

"We can't," Slade replied. "The Shadowlands are very difficult to access because the dimensional portals that lead to that realm are very rare. The only other way we could reach them is through a person whose power enables them to act as a dimensional portal or by cracking open a portal of our own."

"Dragon-boy, you come from the Shadowlands," Red X said. "Why don't you crack open a portal to get us there?"

"Because this accursed mortal form that acts as my prison prevents me from accessing the totality of my powers," the dragon replied curtly. "A safeguard instilled by that bastard Merlin in case I ever awakened inside this boy, no doubt."

"We know where Dark Angel is now," Starfire stated. "In the meantime, we must rejoin our friends and help them battle the remaining Horsemen."

"She has a point," Nightwing stated, having resumed control of his body. "Let's go."

* * *

Meanwhile, Bumblebee, Speedy, Cyborg, and Omen had just landed near the war between North Kasnia and South Kasnia.

"War's influence, no doubt," Omen remarked.

"So where is that warmongering bastard?" Bumblebee asked.

"Be careful," Cyborg advised. "We're dealing with a Horseman of the Apocalypse."

At that moment, War materialized on his blood-colored horse. He got off the horse and drew his sword.

"Which of you would be foolish enough to battle me first?" he asked.

Bumblebee pulled out her stingers and shot a blast of electrostatic energy at War with them. Unfortunately for him, War used his shield to deflect the blast into Omen, who blocked it with a telekinetic force field. Cyborg shifted both of his arms into cannon mode and fired a dual blast of sonic energy at War, who deflected the blasts with his shield. Speedy nocked three explosive arrows and fired them at War, who simply caught them in his hand and threw them back at the four Titans at the speed of bullets. Omen threw up a telekinetic shield to protect the four from the impact of the arrows.

"Is this all you can do against me?" War asked.

Suddenly, War was blindsided by a punch to his armored face, one that was followed by a kick to his torso.

"Who in the fieriest circles of Hell would dare?" the warmongering Horseman asked angrily.

"Us, jerk," a teenage male voice answered defiantly.

The Titans looked at the source of the voice and saw a black-haired teenage boy dressed in a blue full-body suit with a golden sash around his waist, gold bracelets on his wrists, gold boots, a thick gold lightning bolt on his chest, and a gold-trimmed red cape on his shoulders. Next to him, they saw a brown-haired teenage girl dressed similarly to him, except with white in place of blue. Her cape was white instead of red and her outfit was a sleeveless dress instead of full-body suit.

"Who are you two?" Cyborg asked.

"Mary Marvel," the girl replied. She jerked a thumb toward him. "He's Captain Marvel, Jr., but you can call him CM3."

"The inheritors of the power of Shazam," War growled. "Where is your red-attired friend?"

"He's busy," CM3 replied. "I'm afraid you'll have to deal with us for the time being."

Then in blurs of blue and white, he and Mary Marvel attacked War, punching and kicking him fiercely.

"Whoa, look at them go!" Speedy exclaimed.

"I've never seen power like that before," Cyborg breathed out.

War roared in fury and lashed out with a wave of blood-red force that threw CM3 and Mary Marvel aside, knocking them to the ground after a few brief tumbles.

"You two all right?" Speedy asked.

"Yeah," Mary replied.

"We'll live," CM3 added as he and Mary got back on their feet. He flew at War and put him in a hold, shouting, "Captain Marvel!" Immediately, a bolt of lightning came forth from the sky and struck War, eliciting a roar of pain from the Horseman. The cry of "Captain Marvel!" once more escaped his lips and once more a bolt of lightning came down to strike War.

"The power of Shazam," Omen breathed out.

The third time CM3 called out "Captain Marvel," War got wise and pulled himself out of CM3's grip, placing him directly within the path of the mystical lightning. As soon as CM3 was struck, he reverted to a normal teenage boy dressed in a blue long-sleeved shirt and black jeans. War dropped the de-transformed CM3 to the ground.

"Captain Mar –" the boy shouted, attempting to transform back into his super-powered state only to be cut off by a vicious punch from War that knocked him unconscious.

"CM3!" Mary shouted in horror. She looked at her unconscious partner and at War. Without saying anything, she moved so quickly that it almost seemed as though she hadn't moved at all, but War knew she moved because he felt her knee in his armored stomach. War drew his sword and swung at her, aiming to take her head off, but she ducked under his swing and delivered a hard uppercut to his helmeted jaw.

"Impudent harridan," War snarled as he gathered dark red electrical power in the palm of his hand. He fired the bolt of crimson lightning at Mary, obviously intending to de-power her the same way he'd done to CM3. This time turned out to be rather different, as Omen placed a telekinetic barrier between the two and War ended up being struck by his own lightning bolt. Bumblebee pulled out the Gem of Red War and War was pulled back into it.

Cyborg looked out into the distance. "The Kasnians have stopped fighting," he stated.

"Yes, without War to enflame their hostilities, they would do that," Omen remarked.

"I just got word from Captain Marvel that the people in Palestine and Israel have stopped fighting as well," Mary interjected. She looked at Omen. "Thanks."

"You're welcome," Omen responded.

At that moment, CM3 began to stir.

"CM3," Mary uttered, moving to the boy and cradling his head in her arm. "Are you all right?"

"I am now," CM3 replied with a slight grin. "So . . . we win?"

"Yeah," Mary Marvel answered. "We win."

"Mind helping me stand up?" CM3 asked.

"Sure," Mary replied and helped CM3 to his feet. However, he was still leaning on her shoulder for support.

"Captain Marvel!" he shouted, transforming into his more powerful blue-and-gold-clad self as soon as the mystical lightning struck him. He stood on his own two feet. "Ah, that's better."

At that moment, a jet stopped over them.

"Who's in that jet?" CM3 asked.

"If we're lucky, that's some of our friends," Bumblebee replied.

The jet landed and its doors opened, enabling Nightwing, Starfire, Red X, and Blackfire to step out.

"Good, it _is_ our friends," Bumblebee uttered in relief.

"Why, Honeybee, I didn't know you thought of me like that," Blackfire purred.

"It's _Bumble_bee," the Titans East leader growled.

"I know," Blackfire responded airily.

"You must be Mary Marvel and CM3," Nightwing said. "Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you, too," Mary answered.

"It's funny that you know about us and we know nothing about you," CM3 stated slightly warily.

"I'm Nightwing," the black-and-blue-clad vigilante answered.

At that moment, a woman landed before the teen heroes and anti-heroes. She was quite tall, almost six feet, and dressed in a red bustier with a golden "double-W" designed in such a way as to resemble an eagle taking flight and what looked like a pair of star-spangled blue bikini bottoms. Separating the two pieces of clothing was a golden girdle around her waist. In addition, she wore a pair of silver bracelets, a pair of red boots with a white stripe bisecting the foot, and a golden tiara with a red star. She had long, lustrous black hair, blue eyes that gleamed with confidence and kindness, and achingly beautiful Mediterranean features.

"Wonder Woman," Nightwing greeted almost calmly. "Hi."

"Robin," Wonder Woman greeted courteously. "Or do you prefer Nightwing now?"

"Yeah," Nightwing replied.

"So . . . was it you that defeated War?" the Amazon princess asked, directing her question to all of the Titans.

"Yes," Omen replied.

"Good work," Wonder Woman said. She looked at Mary and CM3. "He's a little worried about you."

"Cap always worries," CM3 remarked.

"I'll tell him you said that," Wonder Woman answered before flying away.

Red X finally regained his voice. "Wonder Woman! We were in the presence of Wonder Woman!"

"Yes, we were," Nightwing answered with a detached tone.

"You're taking this rather calmly," Red X remarked.

"It's not my fault this is your first time meeting her," Nightwing stated.

"You've met her before?" Red X asked.

"Yeah, when the Titans and the League had to work together," Nightwing replied.

"If someone will get over his shellshock, we have to find the other Titans," Speedy stated.

"Oh, yeah," Red X conceded.

"Be grateful for that mask, X," Cyborg said. "It keeps us from seeing the stupid look on your face."

Red X muttered something under his breath as he, Starfire, Blackfire, and Nightwing piled into the jet in which they'd arrived. Bumblebee, Cyborg, Speedy, and Omen entered their own jet. Before they took off, Bumblebee turned on the P.A. system in her jet and spoke to the two Marvels. "You mind coming with us?" she asked.

"We'd like that, but my brother's worried about us," Mary replied. "We'll meet you later, though!"

"Sure!" Bumblebee shouted back before turning off the P.A. system and flying away.

* * *

In the third-world nations of Asia, Superman, the Flash, and Kid Flash were delivering food to the people at hypersonic speed.

"Famine keeps eating up all the food here," the Flash said. "How are we supposed to stop him?"

"We'll find a way," Superman answered. "In the meantime, we keep these people fed as best as we can."

"All right," Kid Flash said.

* * *

At that moment, Raven, Beast Boy, and Mas y Menos were busy battling Famine, who was swinging at them with a sickle and chain. He swung the chain at Raven, only for that chain to be blocked by her telekinetic powers. Mas y Menos raced at him and kicked him, only to end up bouncing off him and into a nearby tenement. The twins apologized to the residents in Spanish and raced back into the fight.

Beast Boy had become a pterodactyl and was now attacking Famine with his talons. Unfortunately, Famine grabbed him with his chain and pulled him close so that he could stab him with his sickle.

"No!" Raven shouted and extended her dark power to stop Famine from killing Beast Boy. However, it was a cold shadowy tendril that stopped the Horseman . . . by impaling him through his armor and striking his heart.

"Raven?" Beast Boy asked as he reverted to human form and freed himself from the chain. "Was that you?"

"No," Raven replied.

Twin blasts of emerald energy struck Famine.

"Are those Green Lanterns?" Beast Boy asked.

"Yes and no," a dark purr of a voice answered.

A male figure dressed in skintight black and blue with a black-faced blue mask covering his face materialized out of the shadows.

"Who are you?" Mas asked in Spanish.

The black-and-blue-clad figure tilted his head slightly.

"Who are you?" Mas repeated in English.

"Obsidian," the figure replied.

Famine snarled in rage and swung his sickle and chain at the source of the emerald blasts, only for it to be blocked by a green sickle and chain. The person holding the green sickle and chain caught Famine's sickle and chain and used it to pull him over so that he could be socked by a green-armored fist.

"Show yourself!" the Horseman roared.

Two figures with an emerald aura surrounding them floated out of the shadows. One was a blond male of indeterminate age dressed in a red shirt with the image of a green lantern on his chest and green pants with a purple cape and mask. The other was a petite, green-skinned girl (or young woman) dressed in skintight black with a patch of white on the chest that extended to the sides of the torso and insides of the sleeves. The white patch was adorned with something that resembled a green eight-pointed star or flower. In addition, the green girl wore fingerless black gloves with green studs on the cuffs and low-heeled white boots.

"Uh, would you two be Green Lanterns?" Beast Boy asked.

"Not the Green Lanterns you would know," the man replied. "Our power comes from a different source than theirs. Call me Sentinel."

"I'm Jade," the green girl introduced herself.

"I'm not alone anymore. . . ." Beast Boy uttered dreamily, drool beginning to escape his open mouth as he gazed upon the emerald visage of Jade.

"Stop drooling over my sister," Obsidian snarled.

The tone of Obsidian's voice snapped Beast Boy out of his reverie.

"You're so overprotective, Obsidian," Jade said.

"You're all going to die!" Famine screamed. "I will kill you . . . and then your corpses will feed me."

"Sicko," Jade said before the emerald glow around her became armor similar to what one would see in the Tekkaman animé. "Let's dance."

Famine charged at Jade with his sickle and chain and swung it at her, but Jade jumped out of the way and kicked him. After that, she materialized a dual-bladed battle staff and slashed through his armor with it, eliciting a cry of pain from him. Angered by the injury she had dealt him, the Horseman struck her in her armored face, knocking her aside.

Obsidian leaped into the fray, slicing at Famine with blades materialized from shadows. Famine blocked as many of his slices as he could, only for a few to slip past his defenses and injure him even more. Jade got up and she and her brother tag-teamed him, slashing him repeatedly with their blades.

Finally, Raven launched her soul-self into Famine and it consumed every last bit of power he had. With this act completed, he was too weak to resist being drawn into the Gem of White Famine.

"Uh, thanks," Beast Boy said. "We'd have been wasted without you."

"You're welcome," Sentinel answered.

Mas y Menos made "ooh" sounds at Jade's Tekkaman-style armor while Beast Boy just stared in awe. Finally, he gained the courage to speak. "Where'd you get the idea for that armor?"

"My boyfriend's a big mecha animé fan," Jade replied. "It gives him ideas for his artwork."

Beast Boy's face fell. She had a boyfriend. Crap.

"Oh, well, she's probably too old and too mature for you, anyway," Raven remarked.

"We've got more to worry about than our love lives right now," Sentinel stated as Jade dematerialized her armor.

At that moment, two jets landed near them and Nightwing, Red X, Starfire, and Blackfire stepped out of one jet while Bumblebee, Speedy, Cyborg, and Omen stepped out of the other.

"These your friends?" Sentinel asked.

"For the most part," Raven replied.

Obsidian gasped when he saw Nightwing.

"What's wrong, Obsidian?" Sentinel asked.

"Him . . . it's him . . ." Obsidian replied cryptically.

"Him?" Jade asked, looking at Nightwing.

"It's not him, it's what's inside him, coiled, entwined with his soul," Obsidian answered just as cryptically but with a note of franticness. "The coiled thing inside him . . . it comes from the Shadowlands."

"Ah, very astute," Nightwing purred darkly. "But what else could I expect from someone who is connected to the realm that gave birth to me?"

"What's with him?" Beast Boy asked, perturbed by his former leader's behavior.

"It's not Nightwing," Raven replied. "It's the darkness dragon."

The dragon smirked, baring short fangs. "Brilliant deduction, Miss Holmes."

"I see the seal that keeps you inside Nightwing has loosened just enough to allow you control over his body," Raven stated.

"A dragon from the Shadowlands?" Jade asked.

"Yes," the dragon confirmed with another smirk.

"Do you have a name?" Sentinel asked.

"Not really," the dragon replied. "The humans were fond of calling me 'monster' and 'abomination' and 'demon,' so any of those will do fine."

Raven looked at the dragon and Bumblebee. "I presume you were able to defeat Death and War."

"Yeah," the dragon replied.

"Uh-huh, but we had some help," Bumblebee added.

"From whom?" Raven asked.

"Two teenagers with powers like Captain Marvel's," Speedy replied. "The girl called herself Mary Marvel and the boy was called Captain Marvel, Jr. or CM3."

"Ok," the dragon said.

"So now that we've all regrouped, I guess it's time to find Aqualad, Jason, and Wonder Girl," Beast Boy suggested.

"Yes," the dragon agreed. "Besides, Red X, Blackfire, Starfire, and I found out some things, but I'd prefer that we all be there when I explain." He looked at Obsidian, Jade, and Sentinel. "You three wanna come with us? We could use your help."

"We'll be there," Sentinel replied. "Just not right now."

"All right," the dragon conceded as the three teams of Titans got into their jets and flew away.

* * *

End Notes: Some explanations are in order. First, Sentinel is the very first Green Lantern (Alan Scott) under a different name. Unlike the Green Lanterns most comic book readers are familiar with, who are members of the intergalactic peacekeeping force known as the Green Lantern Corps, Alan Scott/Sentinel draws his power from a mystical force called the Starheart. Second, Jade and Obsidian are his twin children by Rose/Thorn, a villainess with good and evil personalities, who gave them up for adoption out of fear of harming them in her villainous persona. Jade has the same powers as Sentinel, while Obsidian possesses shadow-based powers born of the Shadowlands, which is the source of all darkness-based power as explained in the last chapter.

Mary Marvel and CM3: Mary is the twin sister of Billy Batson, a.k.a. Captain Marvel. Unlike Billy, Mary remains her teenaged self when transformed but gains a certain "divine" radiance. CM3 (Captain Marvel, Jr.) didn't derive his powers from the wizard Shazam like Mary and Billy, but from Mary and Billy themselves when they gave him a portion of their powers to save his life. The catch is that when one Marvel is active, s/he is at full strength but will suffer a slight power reduction if either or both of the other two Marvels become active.

The next chapter is when things come to a head. There'll be a big confrontation between the Titans, the magic-based heroes of the DCU, and Dark Angel and her mysterious ally Asmodeus. After that, the seeds of a sequel may or may not be planted. See you then.


	12. To the Ninth

"Coil"

Chapter 12: "To the Ninth"

Disclaimer: All that comes from DC Comics, including Teen Titans, belongs to DC Comics. Not me. That sucks. I could do wonderful things with Teen Titans. However, I will restrict those things to fan fiction, as I do not write for DC Comics in any capacity. Sara Pezzini and her Witchblade do not belong to me, either; they're the property of Top Cow Productions.

Author's note: I'm starting to burn out, so I'm gonna end this story with this chapter while I still have the creative energy to put out a good chapter.

At last, it is here. The great showdown between the forces of good, the forces of evil, and those who don't really fit in either category. When the dust settles, there might be a sequel. I think.

In case anyone thinks it was out of character for Starfire to respond as she did to Red X's embarrassment over the banter between Slade and Lust, bear in mind that her people are not nearly as inhibited about sexuality as humans are. Starfire, being the innocent that she is, can't understand why Red X is so embarrassed when he's made it perfectly clear that he's attracted to her.

Warriors, march! March to the end!

* * *

Aqualad, Jason Blood, and Wonder Girl found themselves in the Caribbean, which was being afflicted by Pestilence. Sickness was everywhere. It made Aqualad sick to his stomach.

"Dark Angel is one sick witch, unleashing a monster like Pestilence on this world," he said.

"Agreed," Jason stated stoically. "In the meantime, we must find Pestilence. If we defeat him, we will be able to stop all of this misery."

"Looking for me?" a sickly rasp of a voice asked.

The three turned and saw Pestilence on his horse.

"Like my handiwork?" the pestilent Horseman asked.

"You're going to pay for what you did to those people!" Wonder Girl declared.

"Ah, my mistress has been looking all over for you," Pestilence said. "She said I could do whatever I wanted to the Atlantean and the immortal, but I could not harm you. That pleasure is for her only."

"What does this Dark Angel want with me?" Wonder Girl asked.

"You'll find out when I bring you to her," Pestilence replied.

"Not a chance in Tartarus," Wonder Girl retorted as she wrapped Pestilence in her lasso. Lightning came forth from that lasso and shocked Pestilence, causing him to scream in pain.

"Vicious," Pestilence remarked as he slipped out of the lasso and charged at Aqualad and Jason, the latter chanting something in Latin. Once the chant was completed, a bolt of mystical force struck Pestilence, knocking him back. Aqualad summoned the nearby water as a medium-sized wave that slammed into the Horseman.

"Had enough?" Wonder Girl asked.

"Not quite," Pestilence replied, projecting a wave of dark magic that knocked the trio down to the ground.

"This is not going to be easy," Aqualad remarked.

"Who said it would be?" Wonder Girl asked.

Jason rose to his feet and chanted the words that would release Etrigan.

"Change, change the form of man. Free the prince forever damned. Free the might from fleshy mire. Boil the blood in heart of fire. Gone, gone the form of man, and rise the demon Etrigan!"

Upon chanting those words, Jason's form was wrapped in unholy flame and when it faded, the demon Etrigan had taken his place.

"Burn!" Etrigan shouted, unleashing hellfire on Pestilence, who cried out in pain. "Awfully weak for a Horseman, aren't you? But your power is causing sickness, so it probably fits you to be so weak."

"I'm . . . not done with you . . . yet," Pestilence snarled, punching the ground and sending a wave of black lightning through it. Etrigan jumped out of the way, as did Aqualad and Wonder Girl, and landed with his fists clenched together to brutally impact on the Horseman's helmeted head.

Wonder Girl and Aqualad pummeled Pestilence as well, leaving him struggling to defend himself on all sides. Finally, he let out a howl unlike anything heard on Earth and vaguely humanoid black shapes reached out to pull the three away from Pestilence.

"What are these things?" Aqualad asked.

"Shades!" Etrigan spat. "Natives of the Shadowlands! They can be summoned by any fool who dares dabble in such magic."

The three struggled in the grip of the Shades while Pestilence laughed.

"Weakling!" Etrigan roared. "Could you not battle us on your own?"

"Forgive me for not being quite as arrogant as my fellow Horsemen," Pestilence sneered mockingly. "Shades, take Wonder Girl back to Dark Angel. I'll deal with the Atlantean and the rhyming demon."

The Shades that were previously holding Aqualad and Etrigan latched onto Wonder Girl, covering her body completely. The two could hear muffled cries of rage and desperation as Wonder Girl fought to free herself of the Shades. Unfortunately, there were too many for her to fight off and they sank into a black warp in the ground, taking her with them.

"Wonder Girl!" Aqualad shouted as he lunged at the warp, only for it to disappear before he could reach it. "No!" He punched the ground angrily.

"Dark Angel will treat her nice," Pestilence hissed. "In the meantime, I will live up to my name and drown this world in a deluge of disease. Maybe then all you miserable humans will die."

"I'm going to drown you, you monster!" Aqualad yelled as he flattened Pestilence with a storm surge. Unfortunately, Pestilence just got up, looking not much worse than he already looked.

Etrigan brought both of his hands together for a massive hellfire blast that battered Pestilence. His efforts were also for naught, as the Horseman simply deflected the blast with a shield.

"Do you two really think you can stop me?" he asked. He was very unpleasantly surprised when a silver blade pierced his armored chest.

"Shut up, will you?" a feminine voice asked in irritation.

Pestilence spat up black blood as the blade withdrew itself from his chest. He proceeded to fall to the sandy ground, revealing a woman standing behind him. A serpentine web of metal covered her arms and legs, as well as her groin and her bosom, and even extended to the edges of her face. A blade extended from her right arm, the same blade that had impaled the pestilent Horseman.

"Who are you?" Aqualad asked as he walked to Pestilence to bind him within the Gem of Blue Pestilence.

Etrigan simply smirked at the woman who seemed to be equal parts flesh and metal. "The latest wielder of the Witchblade. It's an honor to meet you. Joan of Arc would have been very proud to know that her weapon is in your hands."

"You're welcome," the woman responded.

Aqualad would have blushed . . . if he hadn't already seen skimpier outfits back in Atlantis.

At that moment, three jets landed near them and opened their doors. Nightwing, Red X, Blackfire, and Starfire exited one jet. Bumblebee, Speedy, Cyborg, and Omen exited the second. Raven, Beast Boy, and Mas y Menos exited the third.

"Where's Wonder Girl?" Speedy asked.

"She's been captured," Etrigan replied. "By Pestilence's Shades."

"You mean that asshole used his sunglasses to kidnap her?" Beast Boy asked.

"No, he's referring to the dwellers of the Shadowlands," Nightwing explained. "Living shadows. They aren't that strong in and of themselves, but they're dangerous in large numbers. That must be how they got Wonder Girl."

"How do you know?" Beast Boy asked.

"The dragon told me," Nightwing replied. His attention soon centered on the semi-armored woman in their midst. "Who are you?"

"The one who defeated Pestilence," Etrigan replied, "and the wielder of the Witchblade."

"What the hell is a Witchblade?" Red X asked.

"A symbiotic weapon that chooses only those of strong body, strong will, and strong spirit to wield it," Omen replied. "A weaker person who tries to use it will be driven insane and ultimately rejected by the Witchblade."

"So do you have a name, gorgeous?" Speedy asked.

"You are aware I'm too old for you, right?" the woman asked. "And it's Sara."

"Lovely name," Speedy complimented. "I'm Speedy."

"I'm sure you are," Sara mumbled.

"Now that we're all together, I'd better tell you what Red X, Starfire, Blackfire, and I found out," Nightwing said. "Dark Angel's in the Shadowlands, the same place those Shades came from, the same place the dragon came from, and the very place that is the source of all darkness-based power."

"How did you find that out?" Bumblebee asked.

"Slade helped us," Nightwing admitted.

"_Slade_ helped _you?_" Bumblebee asked. "What the hell did you have to offer to get him to do that?"

"Nothing except revenge," Nightwing replied. "He's as pissed as we are about what Dark Angel's doing, but it's mostly because she screwed up whatever plans he had for those Apocalyptic Gems."

"So how do we find her?" Cyborg asked.

"The nearest portal to the Shadowlands is all the way in the Amazon," Nightwing replied.

"Why don't you open one yourself?" Aqualad asked.

"What do I keep telling people?" Nightwing asked. "The seal keeps the dragon inside my body and my body weakens the dragon's powers. At this point, portals are beyond our abilities. We'll have to go to the Amazon." He looked at Sara. "We can't leave you stranded here. Mind coming with us?"

"Not really," Sara replied.

* * *

In the Shadowlands, Dark Angel observed her prisoner, who was in chains created from shadows.

"Wonder Girl," she purred. "Or may I call you Donna?"

"Let me go, you witch," Wonder Girl spat.

"Such a rude little girl," Dark Angel purred.

"What do you want with me?" Wonder Girl asked.

"What do I want with you?" Dark Angel asked. "I want you dead. I want you gone. I want you erased from this world and all others and I will make sure that happens."

"Why do you hate me so much?" Wonder Girl asked.

Dark Angel merely stepped out of the shadows, revealing herself entirely to Wonder Girl, who gasped in shock upon seeing her captor's face.

"Your face . . ." Wonder Girl uttered. "You look . . ."

"Just like you?" Dark Angel finished. "Yes, we are very much connected, Donna."

"How?" Wonder Girl asked. "How are we connected?"

"You know," Dark Angel replied. "You know the nature of our connection, deep within your soul. You know."

Wonder Girl looked at Dark Angel with horror. "You're me, aren't you? Somehow, you're me."

"No, I am a superior form of you," Dark Angel replied. "One whose head hasn't been filled with your precious Wonder Woman's lies."

"What are you talking about?" Wonder Girl asked.

"Ares, I'm sure you can explain," Dark Angel answered.

At that moment, the dark-armored God of War emerged from the shadows. He smirked at Wonder Girl.

"In another world," Ares explained, "I was the one who saved you, not the Amazons. I infused you with a portion of my power, trained you to control it, and when you finally became a woman . . . I claimed you as mine and unleashed you upon the world as my Princess of War . . . my Dark Angel."

"I was reborn to destroy the Amazons . . . particularly Wonder Woman as Ares' revenge for her foiling his plans," Dark Angel added. "I am no longer the weak human that was Donna Troy, nor am I the Amazons' pet Wonder Girl."

Wonder Girl struggled in her chains. "You can't keep me here."

"Of course not," Dark Angel answered. "That is not our intention." She smiled cruelly at her younger doppelganger. "We intend to kill you, but not before I have some fun with you."

"Can I watch?" the voice of Asmodeus inquired.

"If it suits you," Dark Angel responded.

* * *

Back in the earthly plane, the Titans and their assorted allies had landed in the Amazon. Now they were prowling the jungle looking for the portal to the Shadowlands.

Blackfire looked at Raven and Omen. "You two must be uncomfortable in those heavy outfits."

"Not our fault we don't like to dress like hookers," Raven retorted coldly.

"My outfit doesn't cover any less than Starfire's, honestly," Blackfire remarked. "Would you call her a hooker, too?"

Raven had no answer.

"If you two want to fight over me, take that pent-up energy and direct it toward whatever we find in the Shadowlands," Nightwing snapped.

"He's right," Etrigan growled. "We have no time for you to squabble over a man."

"Are we there yet?" Beast Boy asked.

"You'll know when we're in a realm of unholy darkness," Raven replied.

"So where exactly in the Shadowlands will we be?" Omen asked.

"If Lust's scrying wasn't off, we'll be in the ninth circle of darkness," Nightwing replied.

"I thought all that circle stuff was from Hell," Blackfire commented. "Or Dante's interpretation of it."

"If you consider Hell the domain of demons, then the Shadowlands is a form of it," Nightwing stated.

Sara was cutting through the leaves obscuring their path with her Witchblade, Red X echoing her actions with his X-shaped whirring blades.

"We're getting close," Nightwing said, gritting his teeth against the pain of the dragon mark pulsing as the holy blade rested on his belt.

"How close is close?" Mas asked.

"Depends," Speedy replied, "if your definition of close is standing _right in front of the gate of darkness._"

To the Titans' surprise, they were not the only ones there. A host of other magic-based heroes were there as well. Zauriel, Zatanna, John Constantine, Wonder Woman, Captain Marvel, Mary Marvel, Captain Marvel, Jr., Jade, Obsidian, Sentinel, and a chalk-skinned, green-cloaked Spirit of Vengeance known as the Spectre.

There was a familiar face none of the Titans counted on being there.

"Slade!" Cyborg exclaimed.

"Nightwing says it cooler," Red X remarked.

"What are you doing here?" Cyborg asked.

"Helping," Slade replied simply.

"It is all right, Cyborg," the Spectre stated in an unearthly voice. "He will not betray us. If he does, though . . ." His golden eyes glowed malevolently. "Vengeance will be swift."

"Constantine," Nightwing greeted. "Nice to see you again."

"Nice to see you, too, kid," Constantine answered.

"Nightwing," Zauriel greeted. "I am relieved that you chose to keep the blade, in spite of the pain I am certain it is causing you."

"I'll live," Nightwing answered.

"Aren't we a nice little army?" CM3 remarked.

"Yeah, we are," Constantine agreed.

"Be careful, Nightwing," Zauriel advised. "Once we enter the Shadowlands, the dragon will become exponentially stronger, perhaps strong enough to tap into all of his powers. You must take care so that the sudden rush of power does not overwhelm your better judgment."

"I'll be all right," Nightwing answered as he began walking through the dark gate. The other heroes and anti-heroes followed him into the gate once he had passed through.

* * *

Dark mountains and towers extended as far as the eye could see . . . and some of their eyes could see a considerable amount. The sky was pitch black, lit only by a blood-red moon.

"_My home,_" the dragon rasped out with barely contained glee. He stretched his arms out and smiled, baring fangs. "_Ah, it feels so good to be back._"

"You sure that's not just because your power is coming back?" Red X asked.

"_That, too,_" the dragon replied with a smirk. "_Already I feel so much stronger._"

Shades emerged from the shadows, a multitude of them gathering around the assorted heroes.

"_Ah, hello, pathetic shadow dwellers,_" the dragon greeted with an ironic smile. "_Are you prepared to die?_"

Zauriel drew his sword and the blade ignited into bright holy flame.

Cyborg shifted his arms into cannon mode, while Beast Boy became the Werebeast. All around them, everyone else prepared for battle in their own ways. Finally, the dragon drew the dragon-headed holy sword and the head opened, releasing fiery breath that engulfed the blade, leaving a purer, stronger gold metal in its wake.

"Does anyone have a plan?" Speedy asked.

"Does 'kick these sorry shadow-freaks' asses' count as a plan in your opinion?" Bumblebee asked.

"_Feisty,_" the dragon remarked with a sinister chuckle. He proceeded to slash a Shade with his dragon blade, automatically dissipating it. Cyborg blasted at them with his Sonic Cannons while Starfire and Blackfire double-teamed against the Shades with their starbolts and optic blasts. Bumblebee shocked the Shades with her stingers and Speedy shot electric explosive arrows at them.

Aqualad and Beast Boy fought the Shades hand-to-hand, while Red X unleashed crimson electrostatic blasts upon them. Raven and Omen combined their telekinetic powers to devastate the Shades. Mas y Menos attacked the Shades at super-speed as Etrigan and Slade incinerated them with hellfire.

Sara lacerated and impaled Shades with her Witchblade and Wonder Woman did the same with a sword that she had appropriated for this particular purpose. The Marvels fought the Shades with just their immense strength and speed while Jade and Sentinel combined their emerald energies to deal all kinds of death to their shadow-dwelling foes. Since the Shades were essentially living shadows, Obsidian possessed one of them and used it to attack the others before abandoning it and using his shadow form to fight them.

"_Sllaberif!_" Zatanna shouted, unleashing fireballs upon the Shades.

Constantine contented himself with reciting brief incantations that would summon intermediate-level servant devils to kill the Shades for him.

"You never did like getting your hands dirty," Zatanna remarked.

"Hey, I can get very dirty when I want to," Constantine retorted with a smirk.

Zauriel slashed his way through Shades with ridiculous ease, considering that he was an Agent of Heaven and they were but mere shadow servants. The Spectre simply ripped Shades apart with his bare hands as though he was a human tearing tissue paper.

As hard as they all fought, the Shades kept coming.

_We will lose unless you let me take full control,_ the dragon silently hissed.

Nightwing said nothing for several moments as they fought. However, his silence ended when a Shade got lucky and punctured Blackfire in the stomach with a sharpened tendril created from its own shadowy mass.

Starfire gasped in horror at what she saw. "Sister!"

"Black . . . fire . . ." Nightwing uttered in sorrow and impotent rage. Then again, it wasn't so impotent in light of the fact that he had access to an extremely powerful and destructive darkness dragon, one he had been holding back since he'd discovered its existence.

_Do it,_ he snarled in his thoughts. _Let's rip them all apart._

_Now that's what I'm talking about!_ the dragon shouted as he took over Nightwing's body completely, letting out an unholy scream as the dark power flooded into his body. Once he stopped screaming, indigo-black fire crackled all around his body. "_You are all going to die."_

He swung the holy blade, now turned black by its proximity to the outpour of dark energy, and it emitted an arc of black energy that killed a thousand Shades.

"A thousand!" Aqualad exclaimed in shock. "He killed a thousand of them in one motion!"

"_If you think that's impressive, watch this,_" the dragon said with a cruel smirk as he zoomed into the midst of another thousand Shades and began fighting them all at impossible speeds, leaving a trail of black fire behind him. Scores upon scores of Shades fell at the dragon's hands and sword.

One Shade grabbed him from behind and others followed from the front in a foolish attempt to bind him. The dragon let him know what he thought about that with an explosion of black flame that threw them all off him and disintegrated them. Black flame crackled all around him as he tore into the Shades, killing most of them within the space of minutes.

"_Anyone else?_" he asked.

A few remaining Shades lunged at him, but the dragon waved his hand and that simple motion unleashed a destructive barrage of black flames that killed them as well.

"_We're done here,_" the dragon stated. "_Let's find Wonder Girl._"

* * *

From within a dark structure vaguely resembling a lighthouse, Dark Angel, Ares, and Asmodeus looked through a dimensional window and saw the dragon leading what looked like a small army of Titans and magically empowered heroes toward them.

"So the dragon is coming for us," Asmodeus stated. "And Zauriel is with him. Good. I've wanted a chance to tear that self-righteous bastard's wings off."

Ares smirked. "Wonder Woman is with them, too."

"I wonder how she'll react when she sees what we've done to her precious Wonder Girl," Dark Angel thought out loud.

"It's a shame we had to stop," Ares said. "It was fun when she finally screamed."

* * *

As the small army of heroes and anti-heroes marched toward Dark Angel's stronghold, the dragon turned to Blackfire, who had not been harmed quite as badly as Nightwing had feared. The dragon had known that all along but had played along with Nightwing's anguish to achieve his freedom.

"_You're holding up all right, aren't you, Blackfire?_" the dragon half questioned, half stated.

"Yeah," Blackfire confirmed. "This is nothing."

"_Good,_" the dragon stated before focusing again on the path ahead.

"Such evil," Obsidian mused. "This massive concentration of shadow power cannot bode well for us."

"Does it matter, Obsidian?" the Spectre asked in his hauntingly unearthly voice. "There is evil and we will eradicate it."

"Yes, Spectre . . . but what will it take?" Zauriel asked.

"Are you referring to the darkness dragon?" the Spectre asked. "If so, I know full well what sort of creature he is. The boy keeps him in check and so I doubt he will turn on us."

"He tainted the sword," Zauriel stated. "His darkness was so powerful that it overwhelmed and corrupted the blade I gave Nightwing."

"True," the Spectre acknowledged. "However, darkness when in service to the light is not necessarily evil. It is simply a different shade of justice."

If the dragon heard their conversation, he didn't comment on it at all. Instead, he stopped in front of Dark Angel's stronghold. "_We're here,_" he stated.

"So do we walk in or do we make an entrance and blast the door open?" Blackfire asked.

The dragon raised a fiery gloved hand. "_What do you think?_"

The door immediately found itself on the receiving end of a massive black fireball that blew it completely apart. "_Let's go,_" the dragon said.

The heroes and anti-heroes moved up the stairs, some flying and others walking. Finally, they made it to the top, where they confronted Dark Angel, Ares, and Asmodeus.

"Asmodeus!" Zauriel exclaimed. "So you're here, too, aren't you?"

"I decided I wanted in on the action," Asmodeus answered with a smirk.

"Ares!" Wonder Woman exclaimed. "What have you done with Wonder Girl?"

"Me?" Ares asked innocently. "I haven't done anything with her. Any harm suffered by your charge was caused directly by Dark Angel."

Wonder Woman looked at the pale woman in shock. "You . . . you look like . . ."

"Donna all grown up?" Dark Angel finished. "Yes . . . that's because I am her, just several dimensions removed."

"What have you done with Donna?" Wonder Woman asked.

Dark Angel waved a hand and the shadows parted to reveal a bloody, battered, and bruised Wonder Girl, her clothes torn in various places.

"Di . . . ana . . ." Wonder Girl murmured in pain.

"You would have been so proud to see her," Dark Angel remarked. "It took so long to get a scream out of her. So long." She chuckled. "You Amazons are a lot more durable than Ares gave you credit for."

Wonder Woman lost it right there and flew at Dark Angel, intending to pummel the sorceress's face. Unfortunately, Dark Angel easily evaded the charge and tore off her short kimono, revealing skintight pitch-and-blood fighting attire. She spun and kicked Wonder Woman so hard that the Amazon Princess flew straight into and through a wall.

"Wonder Woman!" Captain Marvel shouted. He, Mary, and CM3 attacked Dark Angel as one, only to be savagely repelled by the dark sorceress.

"Damn . . ." Beast Boy remarked. "She's a lot stronger than she looks."

"Fortunately, so are we," Blackfire added. She and Starfire tag-teamed Dark Angel, the former attacking at close range and the latter going long range with her starbolts and optic blasts. Unfortunately, Dark Angel deflected Starfire's starbolts and optic blasts with warped air that consumed the blasts and blocked Blackfire's physical attacks with her bare hands.

Wonder Woman flew in to add her considerable strength to the assault on Dark Angel, but Ares blocked her attack with his sword. The Amazon Princess drew her own blade and fought him sword to sword.

Zauriel and Asmodeus fought each other, Zauriel's flaming holy sword clashing against Asmodeus's flaming demon sword. The two blocked and parried and countered as if they'd been doing this for millennia . . . and they had. It was only recently that they began using those techniques on each other.

"Give up, Agent of God, and I'll make your death painless," Asmodeus offered.

"Never," Zauriel retorted.

Suddenly, Wonder Girl began attacking the Spectre, who simply parried her assaults.

"Why's Wonder Girl attacking Spectre?" Cyborg asked.

"That's not Wonder Girl," Omen replied. "Look at her face. That's Eclipso in her body."

Indeed, it was. "Wonder Girl's" face was deathly white with a black circle on the right side and an angry grimace bared fangs.

"Miserable spirit," the Spectre snarled as he batted her aside brutally. Despite this, Eclipso simply somersaulted in midair and flew back at the Spectre, attacking him brutally. She withdrew her lasso and wrapped it around him, willing the divine lightning to strike him dead. Unfortunately for her, the lightning recognized _her_ as the evil one and shocked her painfully, forcing the spirit within to depart from Wonder Girl's body.

Eclipso wasn't done yet; he simply decided to take up a new residence . . . Sara Pezzini.

"Nice try . . ." the wielder of the Witchblade hissed as she forced Eclipso out of her body. She proceeded to lacerate his spectral form with the Witchblade, eliciting an unearthly scream of agony from him as his form dissipated. "That should be the end of you."

Meanwhile, Starfire and Blackfire were still battling Dark Angel, who was simply blocking their assaults with what seemed to be the barest of efforts.

"Is this all you can offer me?" Dark Angel asked. "For a warrior species, you are certainly weak."

"Weak?" Blackfire echoed angrily as she charged up her starbolts and fired a massive blast of purple energy at the dark witch, who simply karate-chopped it in half.

Asmodeus had just gotten lucky and knocked Zauriel's sword out of his hands, leaving him at his mercy. Rather, that would have been the case if a black-bladed dragon-headed sword hadn't sliced through his armor and flesh. Asmodeus roared in pain and fury and unleashed a sonic cry that knocked both him and the wielder of that sword back.

"_Bastard,_" the dragon snarled.

"Ah, Rij'ze," Asmodeus hissed. "It's so good to see you again. Fighting on the side of the angels? Not your style."

"_Things change,_" the dragon replied as he slashed at Asmodeus, who moved out of the way with speed that would have been incomprehensible to a mortal eye. To the dragon, it was simply an annoyance to be dealt with. Moving at that same speed, the dragon and Asmodeus clashed swords, only for the fallen angel to pull a disappearing act. "_Where did you go, you slippery son of a bitch?_"

He got his answer when he felt a burning blade slice his back multiple times in brutally rapid succession. He fell to the ground, the back of his suit in tatters that exposed the bloody hamburger that his back had been turned into.

"How do you like that?" Asmodeus asked.

"Underhanded fiend!" Zauriel yelled and braced himself against the wall before unleashing his own sonic cry, blasting the evil fallen angel against a wall.

"Nightwing!" the Tamaranean sisters and Raven shouted when they saw what had been done to him.

Darkness engulfed Raven and exploded toward Asmodeus, ready to rip him apart. For his part, Asmodeus simply sliced through the darkness as he made his way toward Raven, preparing the strike that would end her life. That strike never came due to a black-gloved hand that grabbed the burning blade and bent it until it was useless.

"You!" Asmodeus yelled.

"_Yes, me,_" the dragon answered with a cruel smile. He turned around and showed his back to Asmodeus, which had completely healed in the space of seconds. "_Impressed?_"

"What in Lucifer's name are you?" Asmodeus asked in fright.

"_Did you not call me Rij'ze?_" the dragon asked. "_That's my name most likely; I just don't remember everything since I was dormant inside this boy's body for eighteen years. As for what I am . . . you know full well what I am._"

"And what is that?" Asmodeus asked.

Rij'ze grabbed him by his throat and his very touch engulfed the evil fallen angel in unholy black fire. Asmodeus could hardly find it in him to scream, even knowing the fate that awaited him, because Rij'ze's grip on his throat made it hard to speak. So there was nothing for him to do except be disintegrated by Rij'ze's flames.

Rij'ze turned his attentions to Dark Angel, running toward her at superhuman speeds. Dark Angel set off mystical mines that had been prepared for him, but he avoided each mine.

"Damn, look at him go," Cyborg remarked.

"He's moving . . . like we do," CM3 breathed out in astonishment.

What none of them seemed to notice was that Dark Angel had a knife treated with dragonbane waiting for him, none of them except Omen.

"Rij'ze, look out!" Omen shouted.

Dark Angel made her move, stabbing Rij'ze with the knife and twisting it to make sure it really hurt.

Rij'ze merely chuckled. "_Dragonbane . . . that would have worked . . . if I were still a dragon in body._" He pulled the knife out of his stomach and lacerated her throat with it, cutting the jugular vein.

Dark Angel placed a hand to her throat, using some healing magic to seal the wound. "Is that all you've got?" she asked.

"_Not really,_" Rij'ze replied. "_But I feel that I should be asking you that question. You've been gathering strength from this realm all this time. SHOW IT TO ME! SHOW ME WHAT YOU'RE CAPABLE OF, 'DARK ANGEL!' SHOW ME!_"

Dark Angel spoke only three words.

"As you wish."

Black tendrils wrapped around the exposed skin of her body, hardening into a protective metal web. She moved so fast that she seemed to disappear in the eyes of most of those present. Only a few, such as Rij'ze himself, had strong enough senses to know that she wasn't quite gone. He caught her fist and squeezed slowly, intending for her to feel the pain of her bones breaking one by one. He was pleasantly surprised when a blast of dark energy from that fist knocked him back.

"_Ah, better,_" Rij'ze mused. "_But not quite good enough. You'll have to step your game up a few notches, little girl._"

"'Little girl'?" Dark Angel echoed in rage. "_How dare you condescend to me, you miserable dragon!_" Seven black energy orbs formed in front of her and she shot all of them at Rij'ze at once.

Rij'ze dodged the orbs as he ran toward Dark Angel, a fiery black claw extended to grab her and choke the life out of her. Unfortunately for him, Dark Angel used the claw to ensnare him and viciously beat him. After that, she threw him aside.

"Now do you think yourself so tough, dragon?" she asked with a smirk.

Suddenly, a lasso wrapped around her and a hundred thousand volts of divine lightning passed through it and into her, eliciting a scream of agony from her.

"That was for torturing me, witch," Wonder Girl snarled.

Rij'ze rose to his feet with a smirk on his face. "_I didn't know you had it in you,_" he hissed. "_Good work._"

Dark Angel got up. "Do you think . . . that will be enough . . . to finish me?" she asked.

"_No,_" Rij'ze replied. "_Which is why I am no longer holding back on you. I've seen all I needed to see of your talents._"

He rose into the air and the tatters in the back of his suit expanded and melded together into great black dragon wings. "_Lo and behold, the end has come!_" he shouted as his dark power rose to its zenith.

"Oh, hell, this isn't going to be good," Constantine remarked. "For her, that is."

Rij'ze reached into the bloody wound in his stomach and pulled back a bloody hand. "_Time to die, wench. I'll see you in hell._" He slashed with his bloodied hand and an arc of blood-colored light accelerated toward Dark Angel, who countered with an arc of ebony light.

The two energy attacks clashed against each other and it seemed for a few moments that they would cancel each other. To the surprise of Dark Angel, Rij'ze's arc ate hers and slammed into her.

"No . . ." she uttered. "It's his blood. That attack is made from his blood!"

"What's she talking about?" CM3 asked.

"A dragon's blood is extremely hot," Raven replied. "Since Rij'ze currently inhabits a human body, he had to transform the blood into fire in that attack instead of just allowing it to touch her."

Dark Angel had nothing more to say before Rij'ze's blood-fire attack reduced her to ashes.

"_I suppose she wasn't that great after all,_" the darkness dragon remarked nonchalantly.

"Holy crap," Beast Boy remarked. "No wonder Trigon was afraid of this guy!"

"Indeed," Raven agreed. "Even Trigon wasn't capable of such displays of power."

"You're all alone now, Ares," Wonder Woman declared as the other heroes and anti-heroes assembled around her. "And you have all of us to deal with."

"I suppose the plan is ruined without the Horsemen," Ares mused. "Diana . . . I will see you again." He teleported in a flash of dark red light.

* * *

Back in East Titans Tower, the Titans, Nightwing, Red X, and Blackfire congregated. Everyone else had returned to their usual territories.

"So we've saved the world again," Beast Boy remarked.

"The bad news is that Slade disappeared again," Nightwing added.

"Quit being a downer," Red X said. "Who gives a crap about Slade? We can take him down anytime we like. Right now, I'd like to celebrate our victory. We kicked ass!"

"Actually, Ri . . . Rij . . . damn, I can't say his name!" Beast Boy exclaimed in frustration.

"It's pronounced _Reeze,_" Raven filled in. "Like breeze, but with a harder sound near the end."

"Uh, thanks," Beast Boy said.

"You're welcome," Raven answered.

"So where do we go from here?" Cyborg asked. "I mean, Rob – Nightwing, it's not like our friendship's unsalvageable. I know the other Titans and I hurt you bad when we were scared of you. To be honest, seeing Rij'ze tear through Asmodeus, Dark Angel, and all those Shades like they were nothing kinda scared us." He saw Nightwing's jaw tighten slightly. "But you're our friend. Nothing's gonna change that, you got me?"

"Thanks," Nightwing said with a smile.

"We're still worried about you, considering your relationship with Blackfire," Cyborg added. "Personal heartbreak aside, crime fighter-criminal relationships don't tend to work very well. I should know."

"I can handle it," Nightwing stated.

"That's not all he'll be handling," Blackfire added. She took Nightwing's hand. "Come on, lover. Time for you to lose your precious virginity."

Starfire and Raven flushed and blanched respectively at Blackfire's brazenness.

Speedy just snickered. "I hope you can handle her, Wingster."

"As much as I'd like that, Blackfire, I've got some leftover business to take care of back in L.A.," Nightwing said. "You can come with me if you like."

"Sure," Blackfire answered, "because I plan on showing you my place."

"I'll come, too," Red X interjected. "To L.A., not your place."

"Why's that?" Nightwing asked.

"I'm sticking with you," Red X replied. "It's the only way I'll have any fun."

* * *

One week later in Los Angeles, the corrupt businessman sat in his office in his corporate headquarters smoking a cigar when he received a call on his cell phone. He picked it up and answered the call. "Hello?"

"Hello, Tyler Waid," a frighteningly familiar voice responded.

"You!" Waid exclaimed in horror. "You're that kid who went and terrorized me in my own office!"

"Yes, that would be me," the voice confirmed. "I got your number as the last caller on your man's phone. I gotta hand it to you; you know how to cover your tracks. It took me six days to put all the pieces together . . . and now that the police know . . ."

"What do you mean, police?" Waid asked.

"Did you really think you had enough of them on your payroll so that you couldn't be touched?" the voice asked. "That doesn't matter now, they're coming for you. Do you hear the sirens?"

Waid could do nothing but blanch in horror and await the end of his enterprise, the end of his good name, and the end of his freedom.

* * *

End Notes: Hate me for ending it there? Don't worry, this isn't really the end. I have another story in mind that'll continue where this one left off.

If anyone's wondering about Dark Angel being an alternate world's version of Donna Troy/Wonder Girl, that was the revelation made in the recent DC miniseries _The Return of Donna Troy._ The circumstances of that are different in the actual miniseries from my explanation in this story.

I'm sorry that not everyone got a chance to fight Dark Angel, Ares, Asmodeus, and Eclipso. It's just that these four characters have very specific enemies and so it's difficult to match just anybody up against them. However, we did get to the important stuff and that is Rij'ze kicking ass and taking names and showing why Trigon feared him. I feel that makes things somewhat better.

This story has ended and it has been a good journey. I thank you all for sticking by me and for letting me know what you think. As a word of advice, simply saying "update!" without adding much else is not a review, it is simply an annoyance. If you can't articulate what you liked or disliked about a story, then you shouldn't use the review button.

Good-bye for now, gentle readers. I will see you again, but before I leave, here's an omake:

* * *

"Ares!" Wonder Woman exclaimed. "What have you done with Wonder Girl?"

"Me?" Ares asked innocently. "I haven't done anything with her. Any harm suffered by your charge was caused directly by Dark Angel."

Wonder Woman looked at the pale woman in shock. "You . . . you look like . . ."

"Donna all grown up?" Dark Angel finished. "Yes . . . that's because I am her, just several dimensions removed."

"What have you done with Donna?" Wonder Woman asked.

"Nothing she didn't want me to," Dark Angel replied. "At least, not after I showed her just how well two women could attend to each other's needs."

She waved a hand and the shadows in the room parted, revealing Wonder Girl dressed in nothing but leather wrappings that barely covered her breasts, bottom, and groin. She smiled cruelly at Wonder Woman before walking to Dark Angel and kissing her very passionately on her lips. The dark witch returned the kiss with equal passion.

"Dude . . . this is so wrong," Cyborg uttered.

"Yeah . . ." Beast Boy agreed as he drooled over the scene.

"You guys are forgetting one thing," Red X said. "They're the same person! Does that count as incest or as some whacked-out form of playing with yourself?"

"I don't know," Nightwing replied. "And I don't think I want to know."

* * *

That's really the end this time. See you next story. 


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